


Flower Shop Assassin

by seraphic_gate



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Assassins & Hitmen, Hoshimeguri, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2019-12-30 01:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18305531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphic_gate/pseuds/seraphic_gate
Summary: Erin is a trained assassin with a personal vendetta against the rich and powerful  Lionhardt family. He finds an unlikely job as a florist in the building they own, which doesn’t seem like the most opportune position to scope out a hit from, until Orion, the lone heir to the Lionhardt fortune, walks in through the front door.





	1. The Cute Florist

Bells over the door jingled. Erin looked up from the desk to find one customer in the lobby flower shop.

A tall man. He knew the face well, though he hadn’t been expecting to run into him so soon.

Orion Lionhardt, heir to the Lionhardt fortune. The youngest board member, at only twenty-five, a product of nepotism. Six feet tall. Hair and eyes both distinctly pale in color, a rare genetic oddity that he and his father shared. He couldn’t be easily mistaken for anyone else.

He walked into the shop with his hands in the pockets of a coat that must cost more than most people’s cars. His face was set in a scowl.

“You new?”

Erin put on a big grin and nodded. “My first day.”

Orion’s face didn’t lighten at all, like it was made of stone. “I want some flowers.”

“Ah, I could have never guessed!” He clapped his hands together. “In a flower shop of all places!”

Orion raised an eyebrow, but even that failed to fluster him at all.

“What occasion or message?” Erin went on. “I find that roses have that last-night-was-great-but-I-won’t-call-you-again kind of feeling.”

Finally, some kind of response. Orion’s eyes narrowed. He was getting annoyed, good.

“White,” he said. “Doesn’t mater what kind.”

“You headed to a wedding or something?”

“No. I like white ones. That’s all.”

“Ah.” What a weirdo. Erin shrugged and grabbed the closest white flowers he could find, lilies or something. He wasn’t an expert. “This’ll work?”

Orion’s expression softened slightly as he looked at the flowers. “Yes.”

“All right.” Erin took them to the counter and pretended to be ringing them up. “That’ll be eight hundred dollars.”

Orion looked right at him. His eyes could chill a man to the bone, there was no doubt about that. “Did you mean eighty dollars?”

“Aha, right! Please forgive me, I am new, after all.”

“I need them delivered.”

“Ah, of course. What poor girl’s address will we be sending these to?”

“My office. It’s office number twelve. This building.”

Erin wanted to strangle him on the spot for not being more bothered, but the shop had a lot of windows at street level, security cameras, and whatnot.

He could wait until the right time.

“Since it’s within the building, I’ll only charge you one thousand dollars for my personal delivery service this time.”

That got Orion looking at him again. “Do you need money or something?”

Well, we can’t all be billionaire’s sons. “My pay rate is fine, it’s just a joke. You know what a joke is, right?”

He couldn’t tell if the glare he got in response to that was skeptical or just annoyed. “I’ll give you one hundred, and you can keep the rest.”

Erin clapped a hand to his cheek. “My, how generous.” A drop of water in the ocean compared to this man’s wealth.

But, it was kind of amazing that anyone would tip him in spite of all the sarcasm dripping from everything he’d said.

Erin processed the transaction and pocketed the extra. 

“Thank you, sir.”

“Thank you.” Orion turned and left. The bell jingled again.

Erin waited a moment. It would be tempting fate to move too quickly. 

Had that really happened?

He had been applying for jobs at this building for months. He intended to infiltrate the place. Learn every hallway and security code little by little. Then, when the timing was perfect, he’d hit his mark.

But Orion had walked right into his shop on the first day.

“Erin?” The shopkeeper’s voice called to him from the back. The stout, elderly woman stepped out. “Sorry about that. It was my grandson calling me, he got sick at school.”

“Aw, I’m sorry. Do you need to go get him?”

“No, I called his aunt, she’s off today. It was just a lot of trouble, but—“. She trailed off as she saw the white flowers on the counter. “Did you sell those?”

“Yes, a very nice gentleman would like them delivered to office 12.”

Her eyes went wide and she began to fiddle with her hands nervously. “That’s Lionhardt’s son!”

Erin, of course, knew that. “Is he now?”

“W-we don’t charge him, his father owns this company! And every other company in this building!”

“Eh, but he didn’t bother to tell me who he was, and he didn’t seem bothered by it. Isn’t he like, a kajillionaire anyway?”

“Its about the gesture of it. Oh goodness. I’ll deliver them and apologize.”

“No, no, it was my mistake. Who will run the store if you’re away? I don’t know what I’m doing yet.”

“Ah.. do you know the way?”

“Big elevator, right?”

“Yes, there’s a security door and—“

“I can handle it.”

“If you could, that would really help me out. And sorry, I should have told you about him. He comes in sometimes.”

Erin smiled. She was nice lady, and had enough to worry about. “It’s no problem.”

He felt bad in advance for all the grief she’d have to go through once he murdered Lionhardt’s son.

***

Erin knew that a free pass right into Orion’s office was too good to be true, and he was right. The elevators to the top floor planted him right into a security checkpoint.

The weapons check at the guard station wasn’t an issue. He knew how to get past that. Silly, really. 

His issue was that there was no direct escape route once he passed through the checkpoint, and he didn’t intend to die here.

He could kill Orion quietly and get out before anyone noticed, but he really wanted something more dramatic than that. 

So, he was there to perform a normal flower delivery.

The guard led him into the hall. The top floor was restricted to just a few enormous offices for the elite president or CEO types. Erin wasn’t an expert. But there were twelve of them. So did that mean that the head honcho’s son barely edged into the top rung?

The hall was grand with arches made of some rich wood, crazy expensive hanging lights, and just about everything Erin expected. His little eighty dollar bouquet was feeling mundane in comparison.

He could hear a deep male voice shouting from the end of the illustrious hall. He only caught the tail end of whatever it was, something like, “You don’t make the decisions!” He wondered what the point of anyone being up here on this crazy rich business floor was, if they didn’t get to make decisions.

The gods must really be on Erin’s side, he thought. That voice belonged to none other than the man himself, Lionhardt Senior, the king of this whole financial fiefdom.

Richly dressed and with his face twisted up like an ogre’s, he turned to look at Erin as he approached. “And what the hell is this? Flowers again?”

Lionhardt was standing in the open door of what appeared to be office twelve. Erin stopped. It wasn’t every day that you met your most hated enemy face to face. It made his blood pump in a way he had never felt before, but Erin made himself smile and cruise through it.

He was only here for a flower delivery. This time.

But that asshole old man took a swipe at him as if to knock the flowers right out of Erin’s hands. Erin wasn’t here for a fight, but he couldn’t suppress the instinct to dodge. He took a step back, which left Lionhardt’s arm to flap pathetically in the air.

He was so flabbergasted when his strike failed to find purchase, he slammed the door and stomped off.

Erin watched him, considering if it would be worth it to throw a dagger into his back right here after all.

The door to office twelve opened much more gently than it had been shut. Behind it stood Orion. His expression was still blank in spite of the brutal tongue lashing he’d been subjected to.

“Geez, what got into that guy’s ass?”

Orion’s mouth twitched as if he wanted to smile, but couldn’t let himself. “You should have let him hit you. He settles out of court. You may have never had to work again.”

“I told you,” Erin said, “my wages are fine.”

He seemed apologetic as he looked at the flowers in Erin’s hands. “You didn’t have to bring it right away.”

“The boss said you aren’t supposed to pay. She got all flustered and was going to run up here and apologize. Since it’s my fault I took your money, I figured I should do it.”

“Ah.” Orion took the flower from his hand. “That’s my fault. I thought if you didn’t know who I was and if I paid cash, I could get away with paying you.”

“Get away with it?”

Orion looked down the hall as if he was afraid his father might come storming back to yell at him some more. “At least keep the tip.”

Erin sighed. “Sure. But why do you need it delivered if you were going straight to your office anyway?”

“I can’t be seen carrying something like that through the building.”

Erin felt more confused than when the conversation had started, but it wasn’t important. He was talking to a dead man, anyway. “Well, have a nice day, I guess.”

“Thank you, and sorry for the trouble.”

Erin smiled. Orion’s handsome face and cordial behavior weren’t enough to stay his hand. He had no idea he was living his last days. It was kind of fun.

“No need to thank me.”


	2. Flowers for Orion

The next day, Erin was early for work just to make sure he was doing everything he could do to make his coworkers lives easier.

He was good at what he did, but if the police were good too, they’d put it together that one of the flower shop employees vanished on the same day as the hit was carried out. So best case, they’d be short a hand for a few weeks until they found a new hire. Worst case, they’d be questioned by the police, their lives turned upside down.

None of that was his problem, but he felt better if he at least did his job well while he was there. He watered all the plants that needed it, and began to sweep.

As soon as the store opened, the bells over the door jingled. He looked up and was met with Orion’s storm cloud glare yet again.

He greeted him in a singsong tone. “Welcome!” Behind his smile he thought that when he killed him, he’d have to remember to mess up his pretty face enough they’d have to have to close the casket at his funeral. 

“It’s you again.”

He stopped and pounded the end of the broom against the floor. “Boo, haven’t you read my name tag yet?”

Orion cleared his throat. “Erin?”

“You can read, good job!”

“Im certain that after the embarrassing situation yesterday that you know who I am.”

“Mister Lionhardt Junior, of course.”

“Orion will be fine.”

“Really?” Erin laughed. He set the broom aside and wiped his hands clean on his apron. “What will you have today, Orion?”

“Flowers.”

Erin groaned. “I know that much.” What a stick in the mud. “Do you want white again?”

“Yes.” He turned his head to look around the shop. “Could you show me your selection?”

“I guess. I’m not that familiar with the stock yet, so I won’t be much help.”

“You’re certainly direct.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Most salesmen would at least try to bullshit me.”

“Guess I’m not a bullshitter, sorry.”

Orion turned to look at the different varieties. 

Erin watched him, taking the opportunity to observe his target. It was hard to tell through that coat, but after watching him for a while, Erin was sure that Orion had some kind of physique under there. He seemed the type to keep himself in shape for physical appearances’ sake.

But no amount of physical strength mattered much to him. The problem was that Orion was graceful and he moved with purpose. He was aware of every motion he made. Someone like that would be more difficult to catch unaware. 

“What’s this one?” He asked.

Erin approached the flower. “Huh,” he muttered, feeling all around the pot. “Ah, here we go.” He found the tag. “Zinnias.”

“And that one there?”

Erin looked. “Well that one’s a daisy, even I know that.”

“You say that as if you aren’t a florist.”

“It’s only my second day!”

Orion’s mouth twitched again like he might almost express an emotion. Before he could speak, Erin’s manager came bumbling onto the salefloor. She had been arranging some flowers in the back, and hurried to greet them.

“M-mister Lionhardt!” She stammered and lowered her head, as if they were in the presence of royalty. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. Was there a problem with the bouquet from yesterday?”

“Not at all, but it does seem lonely on my desk by itself.”

“Lonely?” Erin said with a sarcastic laugh. “Wow...”

“Of course, of course!” The manager hadn’t even slowed down to listen. “I’ll send you our full catalog, and you can have anything you’d like delivered right away. If we don’t have it here, I’ll call the distributor. You don’t need to concern yourself with coming down here to the shop.”

“It’s fine.” He pointed to the daisy. “I’ll take that one.”

“Just a pot of daisies?” 

“Yes.”

Erin watched the exchange and groaned. “He likes the daisies, boss, it’s fine.”

Orion looked down at his feet. He seemed awkward, maybe because he wasn’t allowed to pay. “If you deliver it around two or so, it’s less likely you’ll run into my da—“ he stopped and cleared his throat. “Ah, into any issues with the security.”

“Sure.”

Erin watched him leave without saying anything else. The man who had been so keenly aware of himself and measured in every movement nearly bumped into a woman passing by on the way out.

“What a weird guy.” The boss was still too flustered to notice him speaking.

Erin sighed.

***

Orion wasn’t in his office when Erin went by later that day. He assumed the young heir to the financial empire had been summoned into a meeting or something like that.

The security officer let him inside. Flower deliveries to office number twelve weren’t uncommon. An easy cover for later, if Erin decided that he needed one. 

Orion’s office was sparse for a billionaire’s son. No bar or hot tub or whatever one might expect of a playboy heir. He had a view of the city that tourists might pay thousands a night for; but aside from that, there was just a desk. On top of it was a vase holding the lilies from the day before. 

Erin remembered the weird comment about them looking lonely, and set the daisies next to them. 

He wondered why Orion liked flowers so much. Maybe for kicks, he would put a few on his grave.

He didn’t foresee using this office to his advantage, by it seemed like a waste of this opportunity that had fallen into his lap if he didn’t do a little snooping. 

He knew better than to try the computer. Orion was so high up in the company that it would be highly secure. Erin wasn’t knowledgeable enough about this business empire stuff to make use of anything he’d find in there in any case. He wasn’t here for industrial espionage.

What would help him out would be more like a schedule, something that would help him get an idea of Orion’s movements throughout the day. A home address would be useful too, since it wasn’t clear which of his family’s many homes he actually lived in day to day.

He didn’t see anything like that laying around, but he did find a sticky note with handwriting, presumably Orion’s, on it.

 _The new florist’s name is Erin._ The E was underlined as if the author wanted to make sure he remembered it right.

Erin felt an odd sensation settle in. Why, of all the random people someone like Orion met in a day, would he go through the effort of remembering his name? To Erin, Orion was the son of his most hated enemy. But to Orion, he was just a ditzy clerk. 

His instinct was to reevaluate his cover and make sure the target hadn’t caught onto him, but there was no way. Orion didn’t seem that smart.

But there was this paper with his name on it. A cute little reminder.

The feeling, now growing more pronounced in him, was too complex to name.

He remembered his master’s reassurance, that emotions were fleeting. Just as he’d ignore the pain of a wound, all doubt was pushed from his mind. Cold and unfeeling.

Lionhardt was his enemy. He was going to exact his revenge upon him by killing his only son. Then he would know the pain Erin had felt. 

Erin would not kill him. He would make him live with the pain of burying his child.

He buried that confusing, soft, emotion deep beneath the solid foundation of pain and loneliness he’d suffered.

Deeper than they’d bury Orion.


	3. One Foot in the Grave

“Oh hey, it’s that guy again.”

A week had passed, and Orion had been visiting the shop each day since then. With the exception of Tuesday when Erin was off work, he’d been able to exchange at least a few words with him each morning. 

Erin was not very tall, but not short either. A good medium height. He had some bulk to his chest and his upper arms, although thanks to the tie of his apron, it was easy to see how slender his waist was. 

What Orion noticed first and what had stuck with him most of all about Erin’s appearance was his hair, a bright auburn color, pulled back at the nape of his neck and trailing down his back.

Second most, he had a pretty face. It was always making some energetic expression at him. 

His size and the shape of his body were a not so distant third in importance.

“That guy?” 

Erin had big cat-like eyes that sparkled when he teased him. “Yeah. That weird guy who buys flowers every day.”

“Buying isn’t very accurate,” he said with a sigh. 

Erin put his hands on his hips and looked him up and down. “Why can’t you pay?”

“My father would take offense to it,” he said. “He thinks it’s disrespectful to ask him to pay for something he already owns. And I suppose it is redundant. I should order it through the company at cost and all that.” But then he wouldn’t be able to see Erin. 

“Well, I’ve got something for your dilemma.” Erin slipped behind the counter and have him a mischievous grin. “Ta-da!”

He presented a jar with the word “tips” written on it in marker inside of a roughly drawn heart shape.

“Did your manager approve that?”

“She’s not here right now, so let’s just say she did.”

He looked around the shop, wondering what he should get. He wouldn’t have to feel bad about it this time. “There’s more white,” he said. An entire table’s contents had been switched out.

“Yeah, boss started making more arrangements she thought you’d like.”

While he did like white flowers, he was afraid the shop’s manager may have misinterpreted his taste in them. She had made her arrangements with too many ornate flourishes. The elaborate white and gold arrangements would be beautiful at someone’s wedding, and he hoped that they’d be sold to someone with that purpose in mind. But he preferred more simplistic styles.

“Do you ever arrange flowers?”

Erin laughed. “I’m still new and I don’t know a tulip from a...” he paused to think. “From any other flower that isn’t a tulip.”

Erin said things all the time that made a smile pull at his lips. Eventually, he was going to crack and start laughing. He hadn’t yet, but he wondered how long he could stay composed.

“I’d like to see what you make. It doesn’t have to be white.”

“I like the bright ones like this.” Erin pointed to an arrangement of red and orange carnations, like little flames. 

He opened his wallet and dropped some money into Erin’s tip jar. “I am not taking anything today. Make whatever you want, and I’ll take it tomorrow.”

Erin played with the longer end of his asymmetrical bangs. “My personal design skills will run you ten thousand dollars, I’m afraid.”

“I don’t think that will fit in the jar unless I write a check.”

He smiled. He had a nice smile. “So you do know what a joke is.”

Orion shrugged his shoulders, trying not to think about what he’d really like to say. “Just what would you buy with ten thousand dollars?”

Erin hummed in thought. “Well, I don’t have any debts, and I don’t need a car. My rent is covered, and I don’t need to go back to school. So, I’d probably just give it to somebody that needs it more.”

Humble. Orion envied that about him. He wondered if Erin knew that just between his suit and coat, what he was wearing was well over ten thousand dollars worth. He was asking about too large a sum. “What about twenty dollars?” He asked. “What would you do if you had an extra twenty dollars?”

“What kind of question is that?”

Orion felt hot in the face and looked away. He’d been too transparent. “It’s just a question.”

“Are you like, some kind of trust fund baby who doesn’t understand money values? You want me to teach you the ways of commoners?”

“I did have a trust fund, but that wasn’t the point.”

“Of course you did.” Erin sighed, but conceded to answer the question. “If I had twenty dollars in my pocket, I’d spend it on candy.”

“Candy?”

“Yeah, fancy stuff from that store over there.”

Across the lobby from the flower shop, there was a gourmet confectionary with candy and hand made chocolates. Orion liked the little cakes they made there, but he hadn’t gone there in some time. The clerk recognized him, and he hadn’t been able to eat his cake in peace since then.

Asking whether Erin preferred chocolate or vanilla would be going too far. He had to stop here. 

“Make something,” he said. “I’ll be by tomorrow.”

Erin shrugged. 

It was because of that ambivalence towards him that Orion really wanted to see what kind of flowers he would put together. He hoped he wouldn’t get the same overworked white flowers that the manager assumed he would like. Instead, he wanted to see what flowers Erin would express himself with. 

***

“Your father said to throw these flowers away.”

Orion didn’t care much for his father’s personal assistant. A tall, shrill woman. When he didn’t have time to yell at him, he’d send her. 

“They aren’t bothering him. Especially since he can’t find the time to step into my office and tell me himself.”

“You’ve already angered him with that stunt you pulled with the Copernicus East Division.”

“I found a way to save four hundred jobs and still come in under budget, and he yells at me for it.”

“You don’t have to contradict him at every turn.”

“And you don’t have to nag me when you deliver messages.”

She huffed at that. “I’m not here to scold you. Just friendly advice. You know that if you don’t obey him, he’ll take it out on someone else. Someone with less means than yourself.”

Orion looked up from his computer screen. “What is that supposed to mean? What did he say?”

“That maybe the Lionhardt building doesn’t need a branch of the Starcross Flowers in its lobby,” she said. 

He groaned. “Would he really close a whole location just to make my life a little more miserable?”

“It’s your father. I’m pretty sure he’d dissolve the entire Starcross label if it would put you in your place.”

Orion looked at his desk. She almost couldn’t see him behind the wall of flowers he had accumulated. “I suppose my little hobby has gotten somewhat out of hand.”

“I don’t have a problem with them,” she said. “I think they make you more approachable, like a fairy tale prince.”

“You don’t have to tease me.”

“I’m not. But you know how your father cares about image. Flowers don’t convey strength.”

“I don’t care what he thinks, but if he’s going to cause those people trouble...”

She shrugged. “Just figure it out.”

***

That night, he had his staff bring the flowers to his home. A house outside the city. He didn’t like it much, but it was remote and quiet. A much needed oasis for him away from the city.

It was fancy and new, with an entertainment room, state of the art kitchen, and a lounge with a bar. A king sized bed, a patio, and a pool. It overlooked a beautiful mountain range. But it was empty. Orion’s life was so overburdened with business, he didn’t have time for a dog, let alone another person in his life.

His thing with the cute florist was nothing more than a pale imitation of a human relationship, but he wasn’t allowed even that.

Sometimes he wondered if this could really be called living, or if he was just stalling for time against his inevitable end.


	4. Perfect Opportunity

Erin looked at his handiwork. He wasn’t an artist, so all he did was throw some fun ideas together, but he thought the end result was pretty good after all.

The main flower in the bouquet was wolfsbane, a dark purple thing with lots of petals hanging one over the other like a string of bells. It was cute, but what he liked about it was its ulterior meaning “an enemy is near.” It made this arrangement specifically for Orion more fun, at least for him.

But purple wasn’t interesting enough by itself, so he put it with a few roses. They were fancier than typical roses, a dark blood red color. 

After all that, he threw in some baby’s breath since those were white, and Orion would like that. 

He finished the arrangement before the store opened and went about his duties, sweeping and watering plants. Soon the clock rolled around to opening time, and he waited for the door’s bell to jingle.

But it didn’t. Orion didn’t visit the shop that morning, even though he said he would. Even as the morning passed and customers filled the store, there was no Orion.

“That son of a bitch,” he grumbled, and had to apologize to some customers that overheard him.

Orion really was just a big jerk, after all. To think he was going to feel bad about killing him!

He slammed the cash register closed and said “Thank you! Have a nice day!” to some poor customer who’d just wanted some roses.

The bell jingled when customers left, too. He kept looking up at the sound, but Orion wasn’t there.

He was the only staff in the front, so he let himself mope, leaning over the front desk with a big sigh.

He was going to feel bad. That was the feeling he didn’t want to name. His pride as an assassin was wounded at the realization.

Orion wasn’t the person he expected. Even though he told himself over and over that he barely knew the man, there was a sinking feeling in his chest every time he thought of killing him.

The phone rang.

He groaned. Since everyone else was busy with stocking or fulfilling orders, he was supposed to answer the phone.

He pulled the phone off the hook and to his ear. “What do you want?” 

“Is that your standard greeting?”

Erin bit his lip to stop himself from cursing at the little jump his heart did at the sound of that voice. He cleared his throat dramatically. “Thank you for calling Starcross Flowers, Lionhardt building location. This is Erin speaking, How may I help you?”

“Erin, it’s me.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know any ‘me’ could you be more specific?”

“Orion.”

“Who?”

“Is this some kind of joke?” 

Not that Orion would know a joke if it slapped him in the face, but Erin wasn’t joking. “Jerk. I made you something and you didn’t even come by.”

There was silence on Orion’s end of the line. Then, Erin thought he imagined it. Orion laughed.

Well, sort of. It was a soft, barely audible “ha.” 

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d be looking forward to it.”

“I wasn’t _looking forward to it_ ,” Erin huffed. He wondered what kind of face Orion was making when he made that sound that was almost a laugh. Was he smiling? How dare he finally smile when Erin couldn’t even see it. “When you tell somebody to do a job for you and then you don’t show up, it’s rude!”

“I’m sorry again,” he said, and sighed. “I can’t order flowers to my office anymore.”

“What? Why’s that?”

“I can’t talk about it. I called to tell you that I’d like them delivered to my home instead.”

Erin perked up at the thought of such a perfect opportunity. “Yeah?” he clicked his pen, ready to write down that address. “And where do you live?”

“Before I tell you the address, can I ask you not to put it into your computer? It’s a private residence.”

“Oh sure, I get it.” Erin lowered his voice. No paper trail. “You can trust me.”

Orion gave him an address that he could tell was pretty far outside of the city. It was an area known for upper class living.

“I’ll tell the boss to handle this discreetly.” So discreetly in fact, that maybe she wouldn’t even have to know about it.

“Thank you. When can they deliver it? I’m not usually home.”

Oh wow, he was super dumb. This was too easy. “Just let me know when you’ll be home, and I’ll deliver it for you then.”

“You will? Personally?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Ah...” Orion sounded at a loss to that, for whatever reason. “I won’t be home tonight until eight. Is that okay?”

“Well usually we don’t dispatch deliveries after hours, but I guess if you’re Orion Lionhardt, we could make a special exception.”

“It won’t interfere with your own plans?”

“My plans?” Erin wasn’t sure what to assume he was referring to there. There’s no way he knew about his _plans_.

“Of course. If you have someone waiting for you, don’t reschedule on my account.”

Erin didn’t have anything else. The stories about friends who drove him to work and calling his brother on weekends were all just things he’d told people offhand to create the illusion that “Erin” was a real person with a life here in town.

“Nah, I don’t do much on weekdays.”

“Then, it’s okay?”

“Sure, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you.”

Erin was smiling like a cat. “It’s my pleasure.”

***

July, the year of his twenty-first birthday. He would have ascended to the rank of a full fledged assassin at about this time. Now, instead of standing beside his brother in a ceremony to invite them into the world of their masters, he could only celebrate the occasion by planning his revenge.

Orion had all but laid his own head down on the chopping block for sacrifice.

The way everything was falling perfectly into place got Erin so excited, he had almost forgotten about his mixed up feelings.

His manager wasn’t happy about the idea of Erin making such a late delivery when he’d only been working there little over a week. But at the drop of Orion’s name, she quickly changed her tune.

Erin put on a company hat and apron. Gloves too. It was convenient how florists already dressed kind of like murderers. He found the delivery truck in the parking garage and started it up.

The plan was to go to the address, kill Orion, and return the truck so that no one would notice him missing. The police would check Orion’s security tapes and eventually figure out what had happened, but by that time, Erin would be well on his way to another country, having left no trace of himself behind.

That creeping sensation again. How long would it be before anyone noticed Orion was missing? Who would go to his house to check on him? 

But if he really planned to kill Orion, why had he even put the flowers into the truck? He had done it while thinking to himself _He’ll really like these._. But a man who’s already dead doesn’t need flowers.

***

The address was about what he’d expected. A rich person’s home built in a remote development. Several acres worth of land were dedicated to keeping this one house secluded.

As he approached the gate, it opened. Orion must have been waiting for the delivery truck to appear in the security camera. Erin turned his head away so that the brim of the cap hid his face.

The driveway was lined on either side with space that seemed perfect for a garden. The emptiness of it was strange considering how enthusiastic Orion was about flowers. 

The house itself had a subdued kind of richness to it. Nothing too ornate or ostentatious on the surface. It looked like a model home, too pristine.

He drove around a paved bend that passed the front entrance. By the time he parked and took the flowers from the back of the truck, the front door of the house opened.

Erin looked up to find Orion there waiting for him.

Orion was wearing jeans and a tee shirt like a normal guy. Flip flops on his feet and everything. But his face and hair were just too elegant to match the casual image. Erin found himself thinking that the disparity in itself was kind of endearing.

“Don’t you have a butler to answer the door for you?” Erin said with a smirk as he approached the house.

“No, it’s only me here.”

No witnesses. Erin could kill him in less than a heartbeat and no one would know for hours.

“So this is the bouquet you made?”

Erin looked down at the flowers in his arms. “Yeah. You don’t have any pets, do you?”

“No. Why?”

“This flower is super poisonous.”

“I’ll be careful not to eat it.”

Orion took the flowers and stood there with his mouth open like he wanted to say something, and couldn’t decide on what.

Erin snickered. “What do you think of my artistic vision?”

“I like the colors,” he said. “But I’ll have to look at them in better lighting before I make a judgement.”

“Okay then, I guess I’ll just be on my way.”

“You don’t have to,” Orion said. Erin knew he would. Poor lonely rich boy. This was too simple. “I mean, if you won’t get into trouble, you could come inside for a moment. I could use some help finding a spot for these.”

“Well, I’m paid by the hour, so I don’t see why not.”

He followed Orion inside, making note of the security cameras and the best angle to avoid being clearly spotted by them. 

The entrance led into a foyer, and beyond that was a living room with a humongous TV, a hallway that led to more rooms, and a set of stairs that went to the second floor. The area looked even less lived in than the outside did.

Orion stopped just short of the living room. “Wait,” he said, clutching the flowers. “This is stupid. I’m sorry.”

“What for?” Erin kept looking for that moment when the kill would be perfect, but as Orion hung his head like that, it was hard not to want to know what he would say.

“I used your job as an excuse to meet with you privately,” he said. “That’s...”

Erin snorted. “Why would you do that?”

“For selfish reasons, which shouldn’t concern you.”

He felt behind his waist where he’d concealed his gun. “Selfish, huh?” 

“I am ashamed to admit, I have been thinking about you often.” He lifted his chin and his eyes widened, as if he was shocked at what just came out of his own mouth. “I’m sorry, that’s something I shouldn’t have said.” 

Thinking about him? Why? Did he sense Erin’s hostility? Did he know something about who he was? Erin’s hand gripped the handle of his weapon.

“Thank you very much for these flowers,” Orion said. “I’m glad you didn’t go with plain white. These colors are beautiful together.”

Orion’s expression softened and the corners of his mouth tightened until he was smiling, a subdued and sad smile though it was. Erin’s heart skipped a beat.

His hand fell away from the gun. “I kept looking to see if you’d walk in the door,” he said. “And I brought these flowers here hoping that you’d like them.”

That part was true. That wasn’t a lie.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to shop at your store anymore,” Orion said. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” He huffed and folded his arms over his chest. “If you’re so miserable with everything, why not transfer a couple million out of the hundreds that I know you are worth and disappear? You have enough money to spend the rest of your days on some beach drinking with sexy women on both arms if you wanted.”

Again he smiled, but it wasn’t happy. “That’s what my mom did when it became too much for her. Not the beach part, but the disappearing. Sometimes she contacts me still, and begs me to go with her.”

“And why don’t you?” Erin knew a hundred ways to disappear, and with Orion’s resources, it would be simple.

“Because...” He shook his head as if he’d thought of one thing and decided to say something else. “Because, behind that desk is where I can do the most good.”

“Good?” Erin scoffed. “All of you top floor bosses just push around money all day.”

“That is accurate,” he said. “But where that money goes determines who gets to keep their jobs and feed their families. I am the only buffer between my father and the people he employs. Without me, the company would be rampant with bloat and corruption. The people who would suffer for that would be the thousands of employees who work at the store level. People like you.”

Erin sighed. So his father was setting him up as the white hat. With his looks and his youth, he could be presented to the public as a likable figure while Lionhardt continued to do his dirty business from within. All while Orion viewed himself as the last line of defense, unaware of how much he was being used. What a patsy.

“So, I really wont see you in the shop again?”

Orion sighed. “I am afraid not.”

“In that case...” Erin shrugged and turned back to the door. “Take care of yourself.”

“Goodbye, Erin.”

***

Erin drove the delivery van beyond the gate so that Orion would think he was gone.

He parked and buried his face in his hands. They were shaking.

He’d never failed a mission before. To fail this one, this task which had consumed his life for so many years, left him empty inside.

He could hear his brother’s voice scolding him from wherever the dead watched. 

He just couldn’t do it. Orion was naive and out of touch, but he was innocent.

In the end, it wasn’t Orion who he was seeking revenge against. He was just another piece on Lionhardt’s board, and likely an expendable one.

When someone took one of his own, Erin took one of theirs. That was the way he’d been taught. That was how families retaliated at each other in his world.

But would Orion’s death even matter? He had no evidence that Lionhardt loved Orion as much as Erin had loved his own family. 

He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. The mission was still on, he just had to reevaluate his target.

He started the truck and began the long ride back into the city.


	5. Target Lost

The next day came, and Erin found it difficult to push himself out of bed.

His apartment was like a closet, barely enough space for an old mattress and a hook for a few sets of clothes. He had a lock box of weapons, false passports, and other tools of his trade hidden at another site.

The shower down the hall was communal, and if he didn’t get to it early, he’d miss his opening and have to go to work without one. It was a hassle. And he had to get his food out since there was no way to cook there. But, they accepted cash and didn’t ask too many questions, and that was his only necessity.

Once he had showered and dressed, he caught a bus to work. 

“You look tired,” one of his coworkers said. 

He forced a smile. “I’m fine.”

Without his usual visit from Orion, the day dragged on and he was miserable with boredom. In his head, he kept thinking what he could do to make Lionhardt pay for his betrayal against his family. But without Orion to sink his hate into, the memory of them only made him sad.

He owed it to them to avenge their deaths. That’s what they deserved. But an innocent person who only wanted to do good shouldn’t have to pay for their deaths.

“Mister Lionhardt didn’t come today,” his boss said. He and she were the last workers scheduled to close the shop that day. 

Erin heaved a sigh as he closed the shutters. “I don’t think he’ll come back anymore.”

The older woman lowered her voice even though only the two of them were there. “Did he try to sleep with you?”

“What?” Erin sighed, realizing that he had gone to a man’s house at night and how that could look. “No, why would he?”

“There are a bunch of rumors about him.”

“Well, yeah. He’s the world’s most eligible bachelor.” He laughed, unable to picture socially awkward Orion being this womanizer that everyone talked about. “If that’s what that guy was after, he could have anyone. Actors, super models—“

“He asked for you specifically though, right? It’s okay if you turned him down.”

“That’s not what he wanted, I swear.” 

“Hm, okay.” She didn’t seem like she believed him, but was willing to drop the subject.

Erin found the idea preposterous, but as he swept the floor before closing, he remembered how Orion said _, I have been thinking about you often_. 

If Erin had been trying to seduce Orion as part of his gambit, he’d have understood words like that, but why would anybody say that to him as just a normal person, especially someone like Orion? He’d done nothing but his best to annoy him.

It didn’t matter, since he wouldn’t see him again. At least not as a florist named Erin.

***

Another week passed. 

The boss got Erin a little cake from the store across the hall to celebrate the end of his training period.

Erin didn’t know his actual date of birth, or his accurate age for that matter. But his mentor had decided an arbitrary birthday based on the day he and his brother were found and taken in. And that was today. No one could have known, but it made him strangely happy to be sharing a cake.

He felt strangely prideful about this job that he’d only taken as a part of his long term subterfuge. He was learning the names of all the flowers and how to find the right ones for various occasions.

After the little bit of a celebration, the boss addressed the staff.

“The Lionhardt group is having a gala to commemorate its founding anniversary, and we are in charge of the floral arrangements.”

There was a groan from his coworkers. “Is that a bad thing?”

Boss shook her head. “It’s kind of stressful to work with management from the upper floors, but it’s an opportunity to show off what we can do.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Okay, Erin. It’ll be a good opportunity to show you our operations outside the store, so I think that’s a good idea.”

Erin didn’t know if Lionhardt himself would be there, but after deciding to let Orion live, he needed to make as many opportunities for himself as he could.

***

It was another week before the event was scheduled, and Erin went into it feeling strange. The night he’d delivered flowers to Orion’s house felt far away, surreal and almost like a dream. He kept thinking back to that dark road, the empty yard, and Orion wearing flip flops.

Every time the bells over the door jingled, he hoped deep down that he’d see that familiar face.

He was dressed in the store’s delivery uniform, with the hat and the apron. They were up early in the morning long before the event was scheduled to start. The job was to set an arrangement at every table and make sure that it was perfectly displayed. 

They were outside, in a park the company owned just down the street from the main building. There were dozens of tables set up. The florists were not the only ones busy at work. Designers, caterers, technicians, and others from all sorts of other trades were buzzing around to transform the space from a park into a luxurious high society gala.

“Boss,” he said, calling her over. “Are the Lionhardts going to be in attendance at this thing?”

“Yes, they have a VIP table.”

“In that case...” Erin smiled. “Could I put a white arrangement at their table?”

She flipped through the thick stack of papers pinned to her clip board to double check. “Sure. You think that Mister Lionhardt will like it?”

“Ah, boss, you got me.”

She smiled. “Of course, I’ll let you pick which one you think would please him the most.”

Erin had only asked in the interest of figuring out Lionhardt Senior’s seating location, but he did take the task seriously nonetheless. If Lionhardt hated flowers so much that Orion wasn’t even allowed to have them in his office, then Erin would like him to die surrounded by the ones Orion liked the most.

***

The florists were meant to set up and then clear out. Lowly workers like them weren’t invited to stay for the show.

Erin had a plan to invite himself, though.

He noticed that the servers that were readying themselves for the event were wearing basic black pants and white shirts, no logo branding or anything that might be difficult to find. A quick trip down the street to a formal clothing store, and Erin was back, ready to wait tables.

It was late afternoon and the sun would set over dinner, so that dancing and mingling could resume as the stars came out. A string quartet played, and guests began to trickle in. They were dressed in spring finery, light suits and cocktail dresses.

Erin had his firearm discreetly tucked against the small of his waist, and enough knives to open his own cutlery shop hidden in various spots all over his body. Even the tie of his hair concealed a small, thin barb. 

The event was outside and in the middle of downtown. He didn’t have a clear plan, but there were many options for him to use as a diversion, and escape routes galore.

If he decided it was Lionhardt’s day to die, that was. Just killing him seemed too simple to satisfy Erin’s need for revenge. The problem was, after meeting Orion, he was left wondering what Lionhardt even considered dear to him. What could he take that would hurt him? 

To have a son like Orion and take some kind of perverse joy in making him miserable was almost worst than Erin could imagine, even from the man who had arranged the murder of his entire family. 

***

Orion had spent the morning with a stylist being groomed for the occasion. His father was keen on getting his face onto the front of some magazines, all part of his bid to make Orion the public face of the company. That was the only reason he was here, or why he was granted any sort of power.

Orion loathed the self serving nature of it, but if it helped the Lionhardt group as a whole and not just his father, then he would endure the embarrassment of being named the Most Desirable Man, or whatever drivel these publications were calling him.

They dressed him in a dove grey suit with a pinstripe vest and a black tie. The stylist insisted that the lighter colors brought out his eyes, but he feared what his father would say if he appeared in a national publication wearing pink or baby blue.

It was a pleasant spring day, and despite the ordeal these public events were to him, he appreciated the opportunity to visit a park and get some fresh air.

The town car delivered him to the event. As soon as he got out, he heard cameras clicking at him and turned to find almost a dozen photographers snapping pictures. Since when was he some kind of celebrity? He was just a business man.

He was pleased to see that floral arrangements were prominent in the decoration of the event. Although his father found them frivolous, the flower shop where Erin worked was part of a national chain that belonged to their group, and representing their work would be good for their business.

His father hadn’t arrived yet, so he made the rounds on his own, greeting the important people and thanking them for coming. Several of them brought up their single daughters.

Orion wished he could smile on command and make it convincing, but the best he could do was keep a straight face and try not to cringe at those sort of suggestions.

“Champagne?”

His heart jumped at the voice, and he turned to find a familiar face. Erin smirked at him and offered him a glass from the tray he carried.

He took one and began to drink it down, wishing it was something a little harder. “New job?”

“I have many hats,” Erin said. “Enjoy yourself today, Orion. If you can figure out how.” His smile was playful. No awkwardness or sore feelings over their last meeting.

He seemed glad to see him. Or maybe Orion was just imagining that. 

He watched Erin turn away and offer another guest champagne. His eyes followed him even as he drifted farther into the crowd. It puzzled him how he could be so undeniably beautiful. He wore the same nondescript dress shirt and slacks every other server was wearing, but something about he way the pants cinched his waist was special. 

He hadn’t expected to see Erin ever again, and the chance meeting left him with conflicting feelings, both a pit in his stomach and a flutter in his heart. 

He wanted to call out to him and ask him to sit down. If didn’t matter who he worked for. They’d let him take a break for Orion Lionhardt. 

But then he’d just be making the same mistake as he had that night.

The encounter left him with even less patience for social climbers than he had before. He found his seat, and decided to take a rest there until the dinner began. 

The VIP table set aside for his father and himself was decorated with white roses and lilies even though the other tables had arrangements of multiple colors. He smiled, knowing Erin must have seen to that. 

He checked the messages on his phone, and the light feeling in his heart sunk like a rock. His father wasn’t coming. He would have to make the speech for him. The text wasn’t even from him, it was from his assistant.

He’d like to say that he hadn’t expected this, but his father had been passing off these social events to him more often than not lately. 

Food was being served. He looked around. Even though this was an event for his company, without his father, he was alone at his table, like a kid with no friends in the school lunch room.

***

Using service as a ruse to get into a place was about as easy as it got in Erin’s line of work. Nobody at their level got paid enough to ask questions when someone offered to help them out in a stressful environment. They were eager to foist trays of food and drink onto anyone in a white shirt.

He lingered around Orion’s table. The old man hadn’t taken his seat, and he didn’t see him on the floor either.

Using his rapport with Orion as a means to the end of killing his father made him more hesitant than he’d like to admit. But if Orion was going to live, then Lionhardt at least had to die.

Orion was sitting alone at a table while everyone else sat in groups of five. 

“How embarrassing,” he said, swooping in to offer Orion more champagne. “Did your date stand you up?”

“Hardly,” Orion huffed. When he looked up at Erin, he was smiling, ever so slightly, but enough to make Erin feel warm at the sight of it. “Lionhardt Senior won’t be joining me today.”

“Who gets his share of the beef tartar?” 

Orion chuckled. As sad as he looked, he had some humor left in him. “I’ll see if you can take it home,” he said. “If you have such bourgeois tastes.”

“I love fancy food.” Erin grinned. He liked it when he got to say things that weren’t lies. “And sweets, too.”

“Ah, right. I remember.” 

His target wasn’t here, but he wasn’t unhappy. He got to speak to Orion again, and that was enough for now. 

It was just too bad, since this place was such a perfect location for premeditated murder. 

Just as he was thinking about how still the wind was, and what a clear shot it would be from the building across the street, his eyes caught a sparkle of light.

It might not have seemed like anything, but in Erin’s world it was very familiar—the trajectory, the still wind, and the dying afternoon sun. And something he couldn’t put his finger on. There was a familiar feeling, like he was being watched.

He grabbed Orion by the shoulder and shoved him hard. 

Orion had not expected that from someone he sort-of trusted. He shouted as he fell out of his chair and hit the ground. The table turned over.

Erin heard the planter of flowers explode as it was falling and felt the searing impact of a bullet graze his shoulder. 

Orion tried to get up in that split second and Erin pushed him back down, hard. He put his own body between Orion and the shooter’s line of sight.

Two more shots impacted the table, but it was thick enough, thankfully, to shield them. Whoever wanted Orion dead would have to at least change vantage points to make another attempt.

This all had happened within only a few seconds. A cry went through the crowd as they began to panic and scurry around for cover.

Orion looked at him. Erin could see the confusion on his eyes. He sighed. 

“Gosh, I’m clumsy.”

“Erin—“ Orion pushed aside whatever was going through his head and reached out for Erin’s shoulder. “You’re bleeding, how bad is it?”

“I’ll live,” he said, and clapped a hand over the wound. He was lucky the bullet had only grazed him, and hadn’t shattered his bones. But it had torn through flesh and muscle, and he was bleeding all over his white shirt.

Orion stripped his jacket off and pressed it against the wound. “How did you know?”

Erin chuckled, thinking how expensive that jacket must be. “I’m just lucky! I happened to trip while I was serving you, and then there were all these loud noises! Were those bullets? Gosh!”

“That’s bull shit, you pushed me down.”

“Ah...” Erin hissed and leaned onto Orion’s shoulder as his vision blurred. “It hurts a lot.”

“Help is coming,” he said. His voice was deep and reassuring. Through the pain, he could feel Orion applying pressure to the wound and rubbing his back. “Erin, you saved my life.”

Erin had done something very stupid. Not killing Orion was one thing, but blowing his entire operation to save his life was out of the question. Now there would be police, and it was too late for him to make a clean escape. Even if there was a way, he wasn’t sure how bad his wound was, and if he could even get away without medical attention.

He had moved out on instinct in a split second, and he had chosen to protect Orion instead of himself. He’d shown what his true priority was in that moment, and now he would face reckoning for that.

“I can’t go to the hospital,” he whispered. “Orion, I’ll tell you, but I can’t...”

“Right.” Orion looked up over the crashed table and saw security personnel and paramedics scrambling toward them. The other guests were being escorted into the adjacent building. There were already sirens in the air.

One of the staff reached them first, and urged Orion to get to a secure location. Orion argued with him for a moment. Erin was starting to get dizzy and didn’t catch all of it. Maybe he’d lost more blood than he’d thought.

The only thing he could hear clearly was Orion’s voice. “He stays with me.”


	6. Erin

Erin shooed away a medic who was trying to help him. It was only his arm. He could still walk just fine. 

The more important thing was getting Orion out of the open where he could easily be fired on. If that sniper was any good, he’d want to finish the job before security had a chance to put a detail on Orion.

But stupid Orion was still acting like his flesh wound was a priority, and waving away any personnel who told him he had to leave. “Don’t move so fast,” he said. “You’re losing a lot of blood.”

Erin took the shoulder that was offered to him to lean on and shoved Orion under the canopy of a leafy tree. “At least break his line of sight, stupid.”

Orion moved into the shadow of the trees, but frowned at him. “Erin...”

As police filtered into the park, Orion’s personal security group insisted that he should go with them, and go over the situation with his father before the police began to question him. Erin laughed, wondering if it was even legal for him to flee the scene of a crime like this. But his father’s company probably had a more secure safe house somewhere than the police could ever hope to put him in.

“We need to go somewhere,” he said, but when Orion started to move, he pulled him back firmly. “He’s still out there, don’t be reckless.”

“You need to see a doctor.”

Erin was still feeling a little fuzzy, he had to admit. He poked his head out. 

The park was dotted with trees and had little cover from the outside. Between the two closest buildings, he figured the northwest one would give him a better shot of the street where a car would be picking Orion up. 

“Keep your head low,” Erin said. He walked between Orion and the vantage point he figured would be the most likely. That was a gamble, still. He didn’t know this sniper, or if they would try to shoot through him to kill Orion.

They crossed the street and jumped into the car. He and Orion were shoved into the back. He pushed Orion’s head away from the window. No sooner than he had done that, the sound of shattered gas filled the car. 

“Go already!” Erin shouted at the driver. 

Another shot hit the roof of the car, but didn’t penetrate it. It may not have pierced through, but it did mark the car and make it quite obvious which one they were in.

The driver took a hint and sped off.

Orion grappled to fight Erin’s grasp off him and hold him instead. “Erin, you’re bleeding.”

“You’ve told me that like fifty times already, I get it.”

Adrenaline must have stopped him from noticing, but as the car wove through traffic and away from the site, he felt his head swimming. The wound on his arm was still gushing blood. 

Orion sat up and pulled Erin to him. He took the jacket back and pressed it against the wound.

“You should have gone with the paramedics.”

“It’s not a major artery,” he groaned. He wasn’t going to bleed out, but it wasn’t good, either. That arm would be useless for a while. 

Assessing the situation was more important. They were in a car with a driver and one security officer who had made it with them, who were both sitting in the front seat. It was likely that other people from Lionhardt’s security personnel were following them in other cars. “Do you trust them?” He whispered.

Orion sighed. He probably had never met either of them. “They work for my dad, so...”

“Mister Lionhardt,” he said. “We’ll head to your father’s mansion, there’s a full security detail on staff there.”

“No, I’d rather go to my own house.”

Erin looked at him quizzically. 

“I’ve got a safe room and some medical supplies there,” he said, more to Erin than to them. “My father’s is the first place everyone will look for me. Police, media, everyone.”

“Sir, I have to advise against that.”

Erin remembered that he himself hadn’t been able to find Orion’s home address. “I’m fine with it.”

“My home,” Orion said. “I don’t want to argue about it.”

***

Erin found himself at Orion’s house once again. 

By the time they arrived, the adrenaline had worn off completely, and the wound Erin had taken was so painful he almost fell over after he got out of the car. Orion held him steady and led him inside. Erin felt his hand graze the small of his back.

“Care to tell me why a florist is carrying a concealed weapon?”

“Maybe when we’re inside.”

Orion had to shout at the six agents who’d come here with them from his company to stand guard outside and leave him alone with Erin. They were smart to put up a fight, Erin thought. Orion was the dumb one, it was just that in this situation it was to his advantage.

He led him past the same entrance to the same clinical and unused foyer, and through the house to a master bedroom.

“In bed,” Orion said, rustling through a cabinet. 

“I’ll get blood all over your white sheets.”

He frowned. “Just do it.”

Erin slid into the bed and leaned back against the softest pillow he’d ever felt. “Wow, I could go to sleep like this.”

“You probably shouldn’t.” Orion sat at the edge of the bed with a bottle of antiseptic, cloths, swabs, and bandages.

Erin watched as he cut the ruined sleeve away from his arm with a pair of scissors. His usually stoic face was more intense than usual.

“It’s going to look pretty gnarly,” Erin said. “But it’s just flesh, it’ll mend.”

“I’ve never been this close to a shot wound before.”

Erin laughed. “I can tell. You’re turning green.”

Despite his inexperience, he cleaned the wound thoroughly. Erin winced through the sting of the solution against his wound, but there was something warm about being taken care of like this. Something he thought he had lost and would never experience again.

“I don’t think I can do stitches,” Orion said. “But I think you need them.”

“Yeah, I’d say so.” He sighed. “Give me a needle and I’ll do it.”

“I’d rather call a paramedic.”

“And let more people know your address?”

“Fine. I’ll go boil some water to sterilize it with.”

Erin grabbed him with his good arm. “No, don’t go into another room without me!”

Orion’s eyes widened at him and then softened back to neutral. “Okay. Calm down.”

“I am calm, you’re just being stupid.”

“Who are you?”

The question sent a rush of anxiety through him. It was an obvious thing to ask. Erin realized he’d been hoping to stay in this make pretend world a little longer. He could only buy a little more time.

“Let me sew up this wound first, then I’ll tell you.” One pain, then another.

Orion took that as given and set himself to the task. “Will dental floss work?”

“Yeah. And you can sterilize the needle with a lighter, don’t go to the kitchen.”

For a rich boy, he seemed used to doing things on his own. There weren’t any service personnel on staff, not even a gardener from the looks of his yard. It didn’t take him long to produce both a sewing kit and a box of matches. 

“Thanks,” Erin said. “You don’t want to watch me do this. Go change your clothes or something.”

Orion gave him a disapproving look, but did as he said and turned away. Once he had disappeared into the wall-in closet, Erin set to the task of sewing himself up.

The bullet had made a real mess of his arm even though it was just a graze. He sterilized the needle and threaded it. 

He’d been trained to patch up his own wounds in a pinch, but he had never needed to do it. He was usually too good at what he did to get hit. But Orion had messed that up.

*** 

Orion returned, having washed the blood off himself and changed out of that suit he had been wearing. He had put on a nondescript shirt, jeans, athletic shoes, and a hoodie. Perfect clothes to disappear in, Erin thought.

“How is it?”

Erin sighed. He was done, but that only meant the worst of it was about to come. “It’s good for now.”

Orion sat on the edge of the bed facing him. “You were doing something illegal, right? Are you a corporate spy?”

What a weak guess. “It’s something illegal, yeah.”

“You saved my life in the end. So whatever it is, I won’t report you.”

Erin gripped the sheets. It would be easier if he just said it. “Orion, I am a killer for hire.”

He watched Orion’s expression go blank as he processed that. “You mean, like... an assassin?”

“Yes, exactly like that.”

“You kill people?”

“Yes, I have before, and I will again.”

Orion swallowed hard. “But, you’re—“

“I got a job at the flower store because I was casing the building. Erin isn’t even my real name.”

Orion was hard to read on a good day, and his expressions weren’t any easier to decipher as he went through the many phases of realization. He rung his hands for a moment, and then raked his fingers over his face. That Erin had been lying to him all along. That he’d let a killer into his home.

“Why did you save me?”

Erin couldn’t answer that. He’d been trying to answer that one ever since it happened. 

Orion didn’t wait for him to answer. He reached out to grab his shoulder, the one that wasn’t injured. “If the point was to kill me, why did you push me away when you saw the sniper?”

Erin stared back at him, speechless. He hadn’t said anything about killing Orion, he meant to spare him that detail. But Orion assumed as much.

“Because you’re _good_ ,” Erin said, unable to think of a better way of putting it. He had to struggle to put things into words at all. “This world would be much worse off without you in it, that’s why I changed my plans.”

Orion’s face fell, and he sat in thought, saying nothing.

Erin rolled out of the bed, favoring the bad arm. “I’m going to go,” he said, standing with his back turned. “You don’t owe me anything. I saved you because I wanted to. You can call the cops if you want. All I ask is that you protect yourself. Hire a specialist to protect you with all that money you have. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Orion stood and crossed the room to stand beside him. “Don’t leave.”

“Are you stupid? You want a killer hanging around?”

“Maybe.” He heaved a sigh. His hand found Erin’s wrist and held it as if to hold him in place and keep him from running away. “I don’t know who is trying to kill me, and thinking about it is driving me crazy.”

Erin looked up at his face and found him kind of almost smiling.

“You had so many chances to kill me and you didn’t. So, in spite of how I may feel about it, you stand as the only person I am completely sure isn’t trying to kill me.”

This conversation, though it needed to be had, was secondary to the situation. The longer they spent here, the more danger they would be in. “Who would benefit from your death? Who wants you out of the way?”

Orion shook his head as if trying not to think about it. “Anyone on the top floor. I’ve been investigating all of them.”

“Your father included?”

“He hasn’t messaged me to see where I am or if I’m all right. It isn’t unusual for him, but...”

“And those guys out there are his men, huh?”

They could hear a car pulling up outside. The beep of a police radio and indistinct murmurs.

Erin groaned. He figured they wouldn’t be able to evade to police for very long, but he and Orion could have used much more time to talk all this out.

Orion held tight to Erin’s hand. “I’ll cover for you, but what should I explain what I’m doing here with you?”

Erin smiled. “I’ll be your boyfriend.” He turned and hooked his arm around Orion’s.

Orion started in alarm, which was natural, since he now knew Erin to be a trained assassin. Kind of like having a venomous snake wrapped around you. “Excuse me?”

Erin batted his eyes. “Tell them you whisked me away in secret for fear of a scandal breaking out.”

“I’ll try.”


	7. Goodnight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to clarify that while I’m playing with a lot of canon parallels here, not just hoshimeguri ones, Orion’s father here is not intended to be Gaku’s father, other than in appearance alone. While Sousuke Yaotome is the main antagonist in the Idolish7 anime, in later parts of the game he proves himself to be a caring person who sometimes does bad things. In this fic, Lionhardt Senior is pretty much just a bad dude, and isn’t a reflection of how that character is in canon at all.

The arrival of the police at his home was expected. Even with the privacy his fortune earned him, he couldn’t be completely off the grid. If nothing else, they would want to impound the car that had been shot for evidence.

There were several of them. Four cars, each with two officers. Like they were afraid the killer would try again while they were there.

Orion wondered if their fears were sound, and if they could protect him from a trained assassin, when the only one who had managed that earlier was Erin.

“I’m in a relationship with him,” he told the police. “The public doesn’t yet know that I sometimes date men, and so it’s very important that this information be kept confidential.”

The police officer scoffed something about how they were completely professional and such a thing shouldn’t be his concern. Orion scoffed right back, and wondered what tomorrow’s tabloid headlines would read like. 

He didn’t care much, since it was true. Or at least, if he dated at all, he’d probably view men and women equally. He hadn’t had much of a chance with either so far.

His father was the one who’d kill him if he saw it on the news. He bit down and pushed aside the thought that his father could actually have done this. 

He didn’t have time to ask Erin the details of his mission, who had hired him, and if it could be the same person this time. Although it seemed unlikely to him that two different parties would independently attempt to kill him in such a short time.

Meanwhile, Erin was chatting with the officers and acting like an airhead. “I fell over, and then everyone was screaming! I had no idea what was going on!” He threw his head back and laughed.

For the time being, they seemed to accept his story that he’d merely tripped and messed up the sniper’s shot. With Orion’s jacket (a clean one) over his shoulders, no one could see just how badly he was wounded. 

Erin must have noticed Orion looking at him and smiled as he got up, annoying the police officer who was interviewing him. 

He sat beside him on the couch and pouted as he draped his arms over Orion’s shoulders, sliding a knee into his lap. “Honey, can’t you make these people go away?”

“They have some important question to ask us,” he said, going along with it. 

He kept having this disparate set of thoughts when Erin touched him, like an angel was on his shoulder saying _that boy has killed people with those hands!_ but he couldn’t stop thinking that how nice and warm it was.

He considered what he should do to play along. He wondered what he would do if Erin really was just a cute clumsy boy, and if he was lucky enough to be that boy’s boyfriend. 

It wasn’t hard to imagine. This thought had been the oasis in his mind for some weeks now. 

He lifted his hand and ruffled Erin’s hair, letting his fingers massage his scalp. “We’ll be done soon.”

Erin leaned into the touch. “Boo! I want to go to bed.”

The officer reminded him that this was a very serious situation, and Orion had almost died. Erin’s dumb airhead routine worked perfectly. It was unsettling how easy he could put on the show.

 

***

 

They’d been there for hours it seemed, and finally left the house, leaving a car with two officers posted outside the grounds. He was glad for that, since his company’s men stayed posted at the front and back entrances of the home, and he was still uncertain of how far he could trust them.

Exhaustion was nothing unusual for him, but the soreness that ripped through his entire body as he moved was something unique to this situation. Something more mental that it was physical.

“Erin,” he called. 

They were in the living room where they’d been interviewed by the police. Erin was looking around the corners and up into the ceiling at different spots like a dog trying to sniff something out. “Yeah?”

“I... I don’t know.” He crashed back into the couch. “I need to sleep, but I’m not sure if it’s safe to.”

Erin leaned over the back of the couch and looked at him, upside down in his field of vision. “Because of who’s out there, or because of who’s in here?”

Then he was moving around again in a spritely kind of way, energetic about his task. 

“Aren’t you still in pain?” He’d been patched up, but he had only taken a Tylenol for it. 

“Oh, yeah. But it’s not bleeding anymore, I’ll be fine.”

“You say that like the pain isn’t a problem of itself.”

“I’m busy making sure your security system is up to snuff.”

“It’s the best you can buy.”

Erin snorted. “Please. If I can think of ways around it, whoever it is out there can, too.”

“Fine, don’t rest.” 

The couch was firm and it had never been broken in. He shifted, trying to find a good spot. “So who hired you?”

“Huh?” Erin looked up from the security device’s touch pad on the other side of the room he’d been fiddling with. “Oh, you mean to kill you. For a second I thought you were asking about the flower shop.”

“Why would I ask about that at a time like this?” He felt his face with both hands, sure he was stuck in some bad action thriller fever dream. 

“Nobody hired me. I came here on my own.” Erin’s voice took on a grave seriousness that Orion didn’t recognize in him.

“Sorry, I’m still confused.”

Erin shrugged his shoulders and looked apologetic. “I mean, I had a personal reason. I don’t know if I should tell you, though. It doesn’t matter to you now.”

“I think it matters to me why you wanted to kill me, whether you decided not to do it or not.”

“You really don’t know anything about your dad’s illegal activities?”

Orion was somehow not surprised that this was coming back around to his father. “It’s complicated. I suspect he’s got his hands in some dirty deals, but he keeps me out of it. He knows I’d blow the whistle on him if I caught it, even if I am his son.”

Looking at Erin, he wondered how much of the real person he was seeing. He had liked Erin all along as a cute boy who didn’t take any shit from him, billionaire or not, and that part hadn’t changed. 

When Erin turned turned to meet his gaze, he looked pained. Orion wondered if that was real, or if this was staged for him. How much could he believe?

“I’m afraid your father’s past is darker than a little corporate espionage or insider trading.” Erin sighed and came to sit on the couch next to him. He sat as far away as the couch would allow and wrung his hands in his lap. 

Orion saw Erin’s hands shake despite his attempts to hide it by clenching them. “Did he do something to you?” He knew his father had abused his mother, to what extent he wasn’t sure. But surely he wouldn’t have laid hands on a teenage boy.

“He had my family killed.”

Orion let the words sink in. He was certain his father had caused human suffering in an indirect sense through his business practices, but he had never imagined him wiping out families by order. “Can you...”. He wasn’t sure how to even ask. “Can you elaborate?”

Erin’s expression went blank and unfeeling. “It wasn’t about one of our jobs, so I didn’t get the details. All I know is our mentor had done some work for him in the past, but refused to anymore. I think he must have suspected Lionhardt would betray him. I woke up in the middle of the night and our house was burning, surrounded by all these ex military thugs. One on one, my mentor could have beat any of them no problem. But there were so many. He and the other adults fought so that my brother and I could escape, but in the end, I’m the only one who got away.”

Once the long story had finished spilling out of his mouth, he took a deep breath and exhaled it. “I’ve never told anyone that. I’ve never said it out loud.”

Orion lifted his hand without thinking and placed it on Erin’s shoulder. It was what felt natural to do, in spite of everything.

Erin shrugged away from the touch. “Its an eye for an eye. It isn’t good enough to kill him. I wanted to take his family away. That’s why I targeted you. Take one of mine and I take one of yours. That’s our way.”

“But, you didn’t do that.”

“No. When you invited me in, I had a perfect opportunity. But I couldn’t do it.”

Orion set his hand back in his lap, unable to comfort Erin. It was too much. “I’m not sure killing me would have accomplished your goal.”

Erin exhaled a deep breath. “Do you think your father really could be behind this?”

He groaned. “I may have to sleep on that one.”

Erin shook off the bad memories as easily as he moved through the pain he was in. “Well, your security system will be fine, but your couch sucks.”

“I’ve never used it.”

“Geez. Okay.” He stood up, stretched his good arm over his head, and then turned. “Bedroom, then?”

“Is that safe? There’s a window.”

“Yeah, but there’s curtains and the bed isn’t within an angle of a clear shot, anyway. If it were me, I might throw a smoke bomb in and shoot the target coming out, or sneak inside and finish them off point blank.” Erin sounded distant and excited as he began to rattle off about his ideal assassination attempt. His investment in his interest might have been cute if it was not so terrifying.

“You seem to know more about this than flowers, at least.”

“I’m an expert.”

Orion was too tired to argue with that. “Come on, then.”

He turned his back to him. “I’ll stay on guard here.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Orion said. “You need to sleep, you’re injured.”

“In bed with you?” There was a haughty laugh behind his tone. “Do you have any sense of self preservation?”

“Somehow, I feel I’ll be safest in your reach.”

Erin laughed again, although this time it sounded closer to actual amusement. “That would be a smooth line if you meant it to be.”

Orion didn’t understand what that was supposed to mean. “If you prefer, I’ll sleep on the floor. Or I’ll sleep on this couch if you don’t want me in there.”

“Don’t be stupid.”

Erin took his hand and pulled. He led him into the bedroom and didn’t turn the light on as he pushed Orion inside.

He left the door open, and dim light shone inside from the hallway. Orion could see him remove his coat from his shoulders and unbutton his pants, leaving him in one of Orion’s shirts, way too big on him, covering him down to the thighs like a night gown.

A glint of the scattered light reflected in his eyes. He looked up at Orion expectantly. 

“Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Pff.” Erin put his hands on his hips. “What’s the problem now?”

Orion looked away. “It’s nothing.” 

“Well, are you going to go to sleep with your shoes on?”

Orion sighed and took his shoes off. Since he’d changed into so casual clothes earlier, they were fine to sleep in. Easier to run if he needed to, anyway.

Erin got into the bed and claimed the side Orion usually slept on, but he didn’t complain. He slipped into the opposite side and pulled the blankets over.

Erin turned to face him. “I’ll wake up at any sound,” he said. “So try not to snore.”

“I’ll try.”

He closed his eyes, but he could feel Erin still staring at him. He opened them again and he was right. Erin’s eyes were fixed on him.

“I told you what I was doing in that flower shop,” he said. “But you never told me.”

“Buying flowers,” Orion said. “What else would I do in a flower shop?”

“You kept coming back, always when I was working.”

“Of course I did.”

“Why?” Erin pouted. “And don’t tell me it’s just because you like flowers.”

Orion started back at him blankly. “Don’t you know?”

“For a second I thought you’d figured me out, but there’s no way.”

Orion considered that Erin was only pretending to be so oblivious in an attempt to endear himself to him. It was working, if so. To think that this deadly assassin couldn’t pick up on something so obvious...

“You’re cute,” he said. “I was flirting with you.”

Erin’s eyes got wider. It would be hard to fake that look, even for an assassin. “But you’re like, a kabillionaire.”

Orion had to laugh. “You made me feel like I wasn’t, for just a few minutes every day.”

“I see.”

“Is there even such a thing as dating in the world you come from?”

“Not really. My people always passed each other like ships in the night and all that. Would you have asked me out on dates and stuff, like normal people do?”

“I wanted to.”

“Would you have taken me to that candy store? Bought me a bajillion dollars worth of chocolate?”

“I would have.”

Erin made a pleased sound, something between a laugh and a hum. “What a nice little fantasy.” He shifted closer to Orion and nuzzled his nose against his shoulder. “In some other life, I could be a billionaire’s boyfriend.”

“You could be, in this one.”

“Oh? As bloody as my hands are? And in spite of how I almost killed you?”

“I could die tomorrow anyway, so I’m asking myself why not.”

Erin chucked against Orion’s shoulder. “Okay. Until you fall asleep, I’ll pretend to be your normal boyfriend.” He began to whisper. “Tomorrow we have a big day. We’ll go to the mall and you can buy me some shoes. Then I’ll let you buy me lunch. And then, if you’re really sweet to me, you’ll have the pleasure of buying me ice cream, too.”

Orion didn’t want drift away and break the spell that held together this sweet fantasy, but Erin’s voice in his ear was too soft and soothing. Soon he couldn’t make out the words.


	8. Blade’s Edge

Erin woke a few hours later. It was still dark. A look at his wrist watch told him it was still in the early AM. So he had gotten a few hours of sleep. That would do.

He felt Orion’s heavy arm wrapped around his waist. A soft breath warmed his ear. His resolve to get up weakened. He wanted to curl into him and make believe a little more.

But he had woken up for some reason, and although he didn’t hear a noise or sense any movement, he had to trust his instincts even if he didn’t know why yet.

He slipped out of bed on his bare feet. 

It was a familiar feeling, the same as he’d had when the sniper was aiming.

Orion felt him leave his side and stirred, blinking in the dark at Erin, without making a sound. He had decent instincts of his own. Erin nodded at him and he slipped out of the bed and backed away to the opposite side of the room as quietly as he could.

Erin clutched a knife in one hand and his gun in the other. A gunshot would alert the police, and he’d have a lot of explaining to do, but he kept it at the ready as a last resort.

There was movement in the dark. A figure emerged from the open door. Erin’s body moved out of instinct with the knife to get the first strike.

The attacker was about the same height and build as Erin, and held his gun and knife in exactly the same position. He blocked Erin’s initial strike and moved with soundless efficiency to disarm him. Erin reacted with a practiced motion, parrying with the butt of his gun, but couldn’t knock the weapon from his hand. 

Blow for blow they were matched. The movement was hauntingly familiar, something he’d practiced thousands of times against an evenly matched partner.

Orion could do nothing but watch as the scuffle of their hands turned to a display of martial arts. He stood there gripping the end of a heavy flashlight. Erin wouldn’t have discounted his ability to hold his own, if this was any normal fight. But against a trained assassin he was greatly outclassed.

His opponent attempted to sweep his leg, but Erin nimbly avoided the move, returning it with a kick of his own. The assassin expected that and parried the blow away with the blunt side of their arm. The force pushed them a few feet apart from each other.

Erin aimed the gun at him. “Don’t move.” 

The assassin was wearing black clothes and a hood over his head to avoid being identified by interior cameras. He straightened up and rolled his shoulders as if their encounter had been nothing more than a morning’s workout.

He pulled back the hood. Pale strawberry blond hair and a heart-shaped face that mirrored Erin’s. 

Erin gripped the gun tighter. This was surely a ghost.

“Tenn...”

“So it is you, Riku. What a shame.”

Erin hadn’t heard that name spoken aloud in years. “Tenn... I thought you were dead.”

“And I thought you had moved on, found a nice place to live.”

“You were out there?” Erin spat the words. “You knew I was alive and you didn’t come to find me?”

“I found you. You seemed to be living happily with some foster family. You could always get people to like you.” 

“Tenn—“

“Sardinia. Thats my code name now.” He raised his own gun back at Erin. “I don’t want to hear my given name out of your mouth again. Traitor.”

Erin blinked to stop tears from welling in his eyes. “Traitor? Who are you calling a traitor? I thought you were dead! I’ve been working to avenge my family this entire time! You’re the one who didn’t come for me!”

“I misjudged you,” he said, looking at Erin down the barrel of his gun. “I never thought I’d find you sleeping with the enemy.” Then his arm swept im an arc and the gun’s barrel pointed at Orion instead. “What did he say? What did he offer you? To debase the memory of your family?”

Orion grit his teeth. “Erin—“

“Erin?” Tenn mused. “What a cute pet name.”

“That’s not how it is! Stop and listen to me, damn it!”

“You can’t shoot me,” Sardinia said. “You never had it in you.” His grip on the gun tightened. He was going to shoot Orion.

Erin pulled the trigger. His gun wasn’t silenced, and the shot was loud enough in the enclosed room to make their ears ring. 

The gun flew from Sardinia’s hand. Erin knew that he’d have another strapped to his back. He wouldn’t have come unprepared. Disarming him would only buy a few seconds. “Run! Orion!” He rolled in and kicked Sardinia before he could pull another weapon.

Sardinia shrugged off the kick and returned with a strike of his hand to Erin’s wounded shoulder. Erin bit back the pain. As much as it hurt, he knew in the back of his mind that Tenn could have used his knife. And thanks to that, he had been able to put some distance between Tenn and his target.

Sardinia was now on the opposite side of the bedroom with his back to a window that overlooked the woodland foothills that stretched for miles behind the house. 

“I’ve never been foiled in a hit, let alone twice,” Sardinia said. He was smiling as he aimed his second gun at Erin.

In spite of what he’d said, he didn’t shoot through Erin to kill Orion. 

“How long can you protect him from me? When you watch him die, will you cry like you used to?”

He turned and shot through the window behind him. His own gun was silenced and made metallic whipping noises rather than loud bangs. “I hope I’ll see you on our birthday.”

He took a leap and shattered the window and rolled through. Before the glass had stopped falling to the floor, he was gone.

Erin turned to Orion.

“Erin, who was that?”

“My brother,” he said. “Orion look, I have to go.”

“Go? But that guy—“

“I have gunshot residue on my hands and I won’t be able to explain things this time. You won’t be able to stop them from searching—“

The Lionhardt security team and the police who had been posted were already flooding into the house.

There wasn’t enough time to explain any of this. “It was a nice dream,”  
he said, throwing his shoes on as he walked to the window that Tenn had just disappeared through. 

Orion lurched forward as if to grab him, but Erin slipped through his hands. He leapt from the window and disappeared into the night.


	9. Chapter 9

The sparse few hours of sleep he had gotten while nestled into bed with Erin were the only rest he’d be getting for a while.

Erin was right to have gone. Within minutes of the gunshots, his house was crawling with even more police than before. 

He was able to evade most of their questions by saying that he didn’t know anything, and didn’t understand what was happening. That wasn’t untrue. They were writing him off as an out of touch rich guy. Fair.

“The pretty ones are never what they say,” an officer said to him, as some sort of condolence. They’d come to the conclusion that Orion’s “boyfriend” was in on the plan to kill him.

More of the same questions. 

The sun was up by the time they were finished with him.

He excused himself to shower and dress in the guest bathroom upstairs since the police were investigating his bedroom. What little Erin had left of himself was being carefully bagged and removed, never to be seen again.

His guest bathroom had never been used. He didn’t even know how to turn the faucet on until he’d looked at it for a moment.

Everything felt out of touch, behind glass. Like he was watching a movie of someone else’s life. An action thriller.

 _It was a nice dream._

The hot water helped ground him back into reality. He took a deep breath and considered the facts he knew.

A trained assassin was trying to kill him.

If it was Erin’s brother, then it wasn’t about him specifically. It was about his father.

Everything always was.

He took a deep breath of steam. What could he do next?

He had to find something to either confirm or deny Erin’s story. If he beat his father to the office, he might be able to find something. He could snoop around like the sidekick in a movie.

“What am I doing?” He said to himself, leaning his head against the shower wall. Then he laughed. He laughed for a while.

***

He dressed for work, which led to more arguments with his father’s staff and the police who were still present. He knew that he should consider his own safety, but getting to the bottom of the matter was the only thought in his head. 

Dressed in a business suit, he went to the garage to get his personal car. He’d only ever driven it for leisure, but today was different.

As he clicked the unlock button on the car fob, he felt the presence of someone standing behind him.

Orion wasn’t a fighter, but he did work in a ocean full of sharks, and he had good instincts. He turned and knew immediately that this man wasn’t one of his company staff, even if he wore the same kind of suit. He had some scruff on his chin and a scar on his cheek.

“Who are you?”

“Your dad sent me. You’re not behaving.”

“Tell him if he wants me to do something, he could at least try asking me directly.”

“I’m from your dad’s personal security force. He wants me to take you to his safe house.” He smirked. It wasn’t professional. Orion knew then that this man must have some special skill or connection of his father kept him around despite his looks and his attitude. “He said your willingness is optional.”

Orion was a tall man. He used that to his advantage to stare him down. “Is that supposed to intimidate me? There are police all over. You can’t take me by force.”

He got into the car and drove off before the man had any chance to try it.

***

“Orion! What the hell are you doing here?”

His father’s aide must be upset to refer to him so formally. She physically slapped him on the shoulder when walked over.

“You had me worried sick!” 

She wasn’t the only one shocked to see him. Aides from other offices of the floor were sticking their noses from their doors to see if it was really Orion returning to work after nearly being killed.

He opened the door and she followed him into his office. Inside, away from the earshot of other workers, he sighed. “Sorry I didn’t respond to your messages, I figured you’d just tell me to go hide at my father’s place just like everyone else.”

“And why didn’t you do that? Don’t you understand what kind of enemies your father has?”

He took at seat at his desk and swiveled the chair to face her. “No, I don’t, and that’s exactly what I’d like to find out. Are you in on his secrets?”

Her eyes went wide at the accusation and she sputtered. “I don’t know anything, it’s just common sense for a man with his resources.”

“If you don’t know, or won’t tell me—either way, I need you to get out of my office.”

Her lip quivered a moment. “We all know it,” she said. “His enemies started to have unlikely accidents or just disappear. For a while, it was happening all the time. The police seemed suspicious, even. I knew it would come back to him someday, but you—“

Orion sat at his desk and turned on his computer. “Do you have proof? Do you know how I can find evidence to prove that this happened?”

“He’s too good for that.”

He groaned. Was there even a point? “Tell him I want to see him.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t—“

“I need to.”

“All right. I’ll tell him as soon as he arrives.” She cleared her throat and excused herself.

He entered his access code and found himself staring at his own desktop lost, wondering what information he hoped to find that his father would have left lying in the open. This whole situation was stupid.

“People in movies have a script to follow,” he groaned to himself. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

There was a knock at his door. If his father had come, he wouldn’t have knocked. 

“Come in.”

At first it seemed to be a stranger, a black-haired girl in a Starcross Flower uniform carrying a vase of white roses. When the brim of the company hay turned up, he was relieved to see that those long black bangs framing were Erin’s face.

He let out a huge sigh. “Erin.”

“Special delivery,” Erin chimed.

Orion stood and went to him. He took the flowers away and set them on the desk so that he could properly hug him. “Thank god you’re okay.”

Erin seemed taken aback by the sudden embrace and laughed awkwardly. “Are you surprised?”

“Every time you leave, I don’t know if I’ll see you again.” He loosened his hold, but kept him there a moment longer, Erin’s head tucked under his chin.

Erin wiggled out of his embrace and stepped a few feet away from him. “Ah, I’m fine, I mean...”

“Did you dye your hair?”

“No stupid, it’s a wig.”

“I’m glad.”

Erin sighed. He seemed dismayed at all this. “So why did you come up here? You made it extra hard for me.”

Orion was still processing the fact that he’d turned up safe. He blinked back at him dumbly. “Hard for you?”

“I’m trying to keep an eye on you, stupid. Uhg.”

“You followed me to work.”

“Yeah, now don’t be dumb. Let’s leave.”

He shook his head. “I’m going to confront my father about this.”

“That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

“I want him to tell me to my face what he did!”

Erin took another step towards him and looked up sternly from under the brim of his hat. His eyes had that dangerous look to them. “A day ago you told me he had it in him to kill you. Just because he’s not trying to kill you now doesn’t mean he won’t if you make a nuisance of yourself.”

“So you think I should just follow his plan and go hide?”

“That’s exactly what I think you should do.”

“No, I won’t.”

“God, you’re stubborn.”

“So are you. You haven’t run away either.”

Erin shrugged. “It’s my brother, so...”

“That’s right.” Orion kept thinking back to that moment. He’d been so afraid for his life, and so frustrated at his inability to do anything. Everything seemed sped up, and he had been rewinding and trying to place the fragments together since then. “He called you Riku.”

Erin turned his head and stared out the window. There was a distant look on his face, almost sad. “That’s not my name anymore.”

“So is Erin your real name after all?”

“When those of us in our family turn 16, we go through a ceremony to rename ourselves. Tenn and I were just about to choose ours. I couldn’t decide what mine should be.” The shadow of a smile crossed his face as he looked back on what must have been a fond memory. “I was secretly holding out for Tenn, because I wanted to pick a new name that matched his.”

“You two are twins, huh? Not identical, but born on the same day.”

“Yeah, same birthday.”

“Huh. I always wondered what it would be like to have a sibling.”

Erin laughed. “The Lionhardt twins, huh? You’d be world famous lady-killers.”

Yet another fantasy, Orion thought. He wondered if Erin sought to escape from his life as much as he did. When they were together, they couldn’t help but share these delusional dreams.

Erin helped himself to a seat in Orion’s chair and began typing away at his computer. Orion wondered if hacking came with his skill set. 

“It was an afterthought,” Erin said. “Even after the others were gone and it wouldn’t matter anymore, I could never pick one of my own. Erin was the name of a cat my master had a long time ago.”

“With an E.”

He looked up briefly. “Right.”

“If that’s the name you keep for yourself, that’s what I’ll call you.”

His eyes darted around the screen as he responded without looking up. “Good.”

“My assistant is going to come fetch me at any moment now. I’ll leave the room now so she won’t see you.”

“Last chance,” Erin said. He stopped typing and looked up. “Is there any way I can get you to fuck off to some remote tropical island?”

“If you say you’ll come with me, it would be tempting.” 

Erin smirked at that. “Wouldn’t it be?”

The one thing that could shake his resolve was the thought of Erin on the beach, hair shimmering in the sun, working on an even deeper tan. “But I can’t get you to leave, either.”

“No. I’ll admit it’s damn close, but I can’t leave. I have to see my brother again.”

“Then I can’t either.”

Erin didn’t argue. Neither of them liked it, but they understood.

Anesagi knocked at his door. He left to meet her and head to his father’s office.

***

Erin had gotten into Orion’s bank account before he’d even left the room.

He wasn’t stealing. Just preparing for later. A hundred thousand into one of his safe accounts. Orion would thank him later. Erin intended to protect him, so it was kind of like doing him a favor, right?

The thought of Orion wearing a lei of tropical flowers had been too tempting for comfort. He’d need so much sunscreen for that pale skin of his. Somebody would have to help him. 

He slapped the sides of his head to wake up. “Uhg, I just said no, why am I thinking about it?”

After escaping Orion’s house, he’d been unable to catch up with Sardinia, and had just narrowly escaped the police as they canvassed the area. He also “borrowed” a car and some clothes from another house out there, and had caught up with Orion after that. The flower shop hadn’t been connected to him yet, so he was able to get in and take some flowers and a uniform, no problem.

And after all that, as soon as Orion hugged him, it felt as if the night had never ended.


	10. Dream

Orion had never before noticed how much his father’s office fit the picture of an evil villain’s lair. He had grown up surrounded by such opulent wealth that his father’s taste for large open rooms adorned with sculptures of majestic animals and paintings of conquests throughout history had never struck him as odd. Now that he had action thrillers and spy movies on the brain, the giant marble statue of an eagle catching a smaller bird in its claw that stood erect behind his father’s desk was almost comical.

He sat in front of it, peering at Orion from behind his glasses and folded hands. 

Anesagi gave him an apologetic look before excusing herself.

“You’d better have an explanation for yourself.”

Orion frowned, but otherwise stood his ground. “This time, I think you’re the one who owes me an explanation.”

His father pounded on the desk as he pushed himself up. “Damn it, Orion. Must you defy me always, even when it’s your life at stake?”

“I may consider going along with your men to your safe house, if you’d start by explaining why my life is in danger.”

He sat down again and leaned back into his chair. “Orion, I know you are naive, b ut surely by this age you understand what kind of enemies I’ve made.”

“I know that people don’t like you very much, but I wanted to believe you weren’t a murderer, at least.”

“You still haven’t grown up.” His voice, for once, expressed more disappointment than anger. “We’re all murderers. Everyone who enjoys the comforts of our society is complicit in the same system that exploits the weak.”

“I’ve heard this lecture before, and I still think you’re full of shit. Most people aren’t murders, and I’m beginning to think that maybe you are.”

“There. That’s exactly it. Don’t you know how much I’d relish the opportunity to bring you, my only son, into my world?” He scoffed. “But no. The slightest challenge to your fragile morals would send you running to the cops.”

“Afraid I’ll tell on you?”

“I’m afraid you’re wearing a wire right now, if I’m honest. The police were at your house last night, after all.”

“Don’t be absurd.””

“I’m not evil,” he said. “Just realistic.”

“You had a family killed. Wiped out. Didn’t you?

“Who told you that?”

“If you only killed a few shady execs I might buy your kill-or-be-killed, survival of the fittest crap. But that house had minors in it. Boys who were only 15 years old.”

“How do you know that?” He groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “If such a ‘family’ existed, you could be assured that those children would be raised to be killers. Sociopaths. The humanity worked out of them. They could hardly be called people anymore. To be honest, I have a certain admiration for that level of animalistic survival.”

“You would.”

“Do people like that really deserve your sympathy? Are they worth more than your own father?”

“I wonder.”

“You ungrateful—“. He pounded the desk again. “All I’ve ever done was to protect you, and you’d sink the dagger into my back as fast as you could, if it meant being morally superior.”

“Since when have you ever protected me?” Orion said. He almost wanted to laugh. “What have you ever done that wasn’t for your own personal benefit?”

“They threatened my son,” he hissed. “Those thugs. They couldn’t be satisfied being my tools. They said they’d kill my only son if I didn’t pay them more. You were barely an adult, and they’d have snuffed out your life with no remorse.”

Orion sighed. “You should have told me that.”

“How could I have?”

Arguing with him was always so pointless. He had this narrow world view that wouldn’t budge, and it was always Orion’s fault.

“Rigel,” his father said, and rapped on his desk. The same man who’d approached him earlier stepped out from a door behind him, the one with the scar. He was joined by four more men who were all too rough around the edges to look natural in expensive suits. “I need you to take care of my son as we discussed.”

Orion groaned. These men were professional. They had him surrounded on all sides before he could do much about it. Erin was still in his office. 

“I didn’t want to play this card, but it’s for both our sakes,” his father said. “You won’t go into protection of your own free will, and I don’t think I can have you talking to the police after this. So until this mattered is settled, you’ll be out in time out. I hope after this ordeal you’ll have matured a bit.”

Orion tried to shake the men off him, but they had him in handcuffs behind his back before he could do much of anything. The struggle was only going to wear him out.

His father came over to him. The look he gave him was pitiful, disappointed. But there was something else. Some sort of regret maybe. “In case anything does happen, I want you to know that I love you.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.”

“I know you don’t believe it, but I’m not such a bastard that I’d like to see you hurt, so don’t struggle. I know you won’t listen to me, but—uhg. I don’t know why I’m bothering with this.”

The men jerked him away. They took him to the back of the office where a private elevator connected this room directly to the parking garage.

As the elevator doors closed, he saw his father’s expression had deepened into a pained look, he hadn’t only imagined it. 

“Dad—“

The doors shut.

***

He figured he may as well cooperate. At least if these guys worked for his dad, they weren’t going to kill him. And with Sardinia our there, maybe his father was right about going into hiding.

The conversation with his father left him conflicted. He’d all but confirmed that he had used a group of assassins to take out his business rivals, and that he’d had those assassins killed.

But there was sincerity in his voice when he said that he loved him. The anger that consumed him when he thought of someone threatening his son was real.

He couldn’t hate his father. He could even love him, in spite of everything.

The elevator arrived at the parking garage. While this garage was connected to the others, it was behind its own gate. Only his father and his aides like Anesagi were allowed to park in it. Orion was sure nobody would see them down here, or try to intervene. 

Two of the men, including the one his father called Rigel, stepped out in front. They promoted him to follow. The other three walked behind him.

“Stop,” Rigel said. Everyone came to a halt.

Rigel and the other man who stood in front drew their guns. Orion’s heart stopped. He didn’t understand why, but he was certain that he was about to die. 

Shots fired. He couldn’t tell how many. Five or six. They made metallic whipping sounds, shot from suppressors.

He looked down. The three men standing behind him had crumpled to the ground and blood looked around them.

Rigel kicked them to make sure they were dead.

“All right, kiddo,” he said, and waved his gun for Orion to step back into the elevator channel where it would be harder for him to run away. “I know you’re a little shit, but play nice or we’ll make you ride in the back with the bodies.”

“What the hell?”

“No talking. I just need you alive and talking, don’t think I won’t put a cap in your knees if you make a break for it.”

A ransom? Had they heard what happened to those assassins, and thought they could do a better job?

Orion stood there stunned beyond comprehension, as Rigel and his cohort worked quickly to lift the bodies into the back of a truck. “Hurry up,” Rigel barked. “Nine more minutes.”

They were at it for a while. Orion considered running even if it might get him shot. He had a high tolerance for pain, and he’d only have to make it to the guard station on the next floor to get someone’s attention. 

“I said hurry, you ass. We’re almost out of time.”

When he looked up again, there was a silhouette standing at the other end of the private garage. He was backlit, but his shape was slender, and he wore a cap. It had to be him.

Orion didn’t make a sound, but Rigal was practiced enough at this kind of thing to pick up on the change in his breathing as he held his breath without noticing it.

He looked up, drawing his gun with the intent to fire and kill the potential witness. But as he pulled the trigger, Erin had gotten a shot off and hit him in the shoulder. He grunted at the injury and his shot went wide, missing Erin all together.

Erin darted in low, running at him like a ninja in a martial arts film, but there was no sound effect or flash of light to hide the gore when his knife plunged into the man’s chest.

He crumpled over, gasping. Erin kicked his gun far away.

It seemed as if Rigel chose the wrong partner. Rather than try to save him, the other guy jumped into the truck and started the engine to run away.

Erin shot one of the front tires. The truck slumped to a stop before it had even pulled out of the space.

“Wait!” Orion called out, not sure what he intended to say, what he wanted Erin to do. 

Erin caught the arm that held the gun as Rigel’s accomplice threw the door open and tried to shoot him, but he was too slow. 

Orion heard the gun go off. Saw red splatter against the passenger side window on the other end of the truck’s cab.

Then Erin returned to Rigel again, who was still breathing somehow, hacking up blood in the attempt. “Who the hell are you?”

Erin looked down at him. His expression was cold, devoid of emotion. Orion remembered his father’s words. Killers. Sociopaths. The humanity worked out of them.

He closed his eyes as Erin shot the man point blank in the face. He was afraid to open them again, even when silence fell.

“Orion,” he heard Erin say. Close to him now. He flinched away. “Take a deep breath. You’re safe now. It’s me, Erin.”

Orion opened his eyes. Erin was smiling at him softly and it seemed like he wasn’t that cold-blooded murderer who had killed a man attempting to flee. But he was.

“That was kind of a lot, I know.” Erin sighed. “Don’t look over there. Take a deep breath. Take another. Touch the ground, feel it’s there. You’re okay. You’re all right.”

“You... you killed them...”

“I did, yeah.” Erin stood and offered his hand. “It’s a lot different when you see it happening, huh? I’d like to sit here and help you get though the shock you’re in, but we don’t have the luxury of that kind of time.”

Orion took his hand and stood. He was shaking. Erin kept hold of his hand and didn’t let go. 

“I’m here, okay? And I’m not going to let anyone take you away, or hurt you. And I won’t hurt you.” He tugged his arm. “I won’t hurt you.”

Orion struggled to speak. “Okay.” He followed Erin.

Erin led him to a vehicle that was close by. Orion knew it.

“This is Anesagi’s.”

“Yeah, can you believe it? I had you bugged, but I wouldn’t have been able to get to this level without her help.”

“And she gave you her keys, too?”

“Yeah. Get in. I told her she could report it stolen. She should get a whole new one if her insurance is good.”

“Won’t the security camera show me getting into it?”

“Those idiots set it on a loop,” he said. “But we better go before it resets. That’s the nine minutes he was talking about. We’ve got about 40 seconds left if I’m right.”

“You sure are casual about it,” Orion said as he got into the car. Erin started the engine and sped off down the exit ramp.

“You should duck though, there’s another camera at the gate.”

***

Erin drove for a while, telling Orion where to duck out of view whenever there was a security camera. Soon they were on the interstate and the open road.

“How ya doing?”

Orion groaned. “I don’t know how to answer that.”

“You saw all that and you didn’t throw up. Pretty good.”

“I’m still shaking all over.”

“That’s natural. Take deep breaths and let me know if you need to stop.”

“I’ll be fine, at least physically.”

“I recognized that guy’s face,” Erin said. “He’s the same guy that led the raid on my house.”

Orion asked the next question like he was treading into dangerous waters. “Did it feel good to kill him?”

“It felt less bad than the other times. Not good, though.” He stole a glance over at Orion. He was sitting in the passenger’s seat, head propped up on his hand, staring out the window. 

“That desert island plan of yours is looking a lot better now,” he said.

“Let’s sleep on it. You need some rest.”

“Like you don’t?” Orion sighed. “Where are we going?”

“A state over, there’s a hotel that takes cash that I know. Pretty nice too, if you’re into to cheesy old mob kind of luxury.”

Orion fell silent at that. 

Erin felt a pang if guilt in his heart. He didn’t want Orion to have to see those things. He should have remained innocent. 

But even if Orion feared him, even if he hated him—he was going to see him through all of this. He was going to protect him.

He pulled the wig off and discarded it in the back seat. Orion looked up at him. “Does that ponytail of yours mean something?”

“Tenn and I said a long time ago that we’d both grow it out until we became master assassins, and we’d cut each other’s hair on that day. Kind of stupid. As you can see, Sardinia’s hair was short.”

“I can barely remember what I saw that night.”

“That night? It was last night.”

“God, it already feels like it’s been a week.”

“Just try to relax. Let’s sleep, then we can come up with a plan.”

***

Erin hadn’t been kidding about the oldschool gangster style. The place looked like it hadn’t been updated since the 70’s. Neon lights shaped like sexy women and guns. The bottom floor had a strip club in it.

“Presidential Suite, please!” Erin chimed at the teller, who peered out at them through a beaded curtain over the window. He pulled out a stack of bills.

“Where did you get that kind of money?”

“It’s yours,” Erin said with a wink. Hard to believe that cute trickster and the stone faced murderer he’d witnessed before were the same. “I made a sizable withdrawal from your bank while you weren’t looking.”

Orion turned and saw the ATM behind him. He sighed. “Just consider it your tip for bringing me flowers today.”

“My generous boss,” he sang in a playful tone. “I’ll let you buy me anything you want.”

They went to the elevator to together and up to the suite. Orion could see why he’d chosen it, other than for the sake of splurging with his money. It was at the end of its own hall, away from prying ears. 

The inside was just as ridiculous as the front of the building. The bed was enormous, and had some sort of button next to it to vibrate the mattress. There was a jacuzzi bubbling away just feet from the bed, and a shower with just a glass panel separating it from the room so that whoever used it would be putting on a show.

“I’ll order room service,” Erin said. “What do you want?”

Orion let himself fall face up into the bed. “I don’t know if I can eat.”

“You need to. Oh!” He grinned and pointed at something on the menu. “Chocolate covered strawberries? How romantic. Let’s get two boxes.”

“How about real food?”

“Pasta primavera, pineapple chicken, stuffed peppers...”

“Go with the pasta.”

“Okay, as you wish!”

He called the front desk with the order and went through extra efforts to make sure anyone who heard his side of the conversation thought they were a couple. “And some champagne, two glasses!”

“As much as I could go for a drink right now, I think we should both keep our heads clear.”

Erin hung up the phone. “Of course, I only ordered it to reinforce our story. We just got gay married in Canada and we need a discreet honeymoon get away so we can fuck like rabbits without anyone in the way.”

He groaned again. “I can’t think of anything better, so okay.”

In the weird mood lighting and against the overwhelming plush red and purple of every surface of this place, Erin looked ethereal, like there was a halo around him.

He was sitting on the other side of the huge bed, as far away as he could possibly be.

The pasta arrived soon after, along with way too many chocolate covered strawberries. The server said “congratulations” and nothing else.

“Ah, sorry,” Erin said, as he looked at the plate. “I guess the couples dinners are served from one bowl. You can have at it first if you want and I’ll eat the rest that’s left.”

“Don’t be weird. There’s two forks, just dig in.”

“Oh. Okay.”

They ate in silence. Once he started eating, he realized how hungry he was. It wasn’t great, but it had that quality of being extremely edible. Soon the plate was clean.

“Give me those strawberries.”

Erin laughed. “You want them? I ordered them as a joke.”

“Sometimes I eat them on a bad day, and today’s the worst. So hand them over.”

“Unexpectedly cute.”

Erin picked up one of the two boxes and passed it to him.

He was pleased to find them much more satisfying than the dinner. He ate six of them in total before he was stuffed.

Erin took the plate and set it outside the door. By the time he returned from that, Orion had sat up in the bed and was starting to think about everything.

“Erin,” he said. “What you did today. That was terrifying.”

“Yeah.” Erin sat on the edge of the bed and faced the opposite direction. “I’m a killer. I told you.”

“Is this all some elaborate set up? Are you stringing me along? Or do you really care for me?”

He wrung his hands in his lap. “I believe in you,” he said. “So I decided that I’m going to protect you.”

“You care about people, and their feelings. You feel remorse and guilt. You do, right?”

“I’m not a sociopath,” Erin chuckled in a bitter tone. “That’s what you heard, right?”

“Then how can you kill people?”

“I had trouble with it for a long time. No matter how brutal my training got, or how evil the person was who I was supposed to kill, I couldn’t land the killing blow. Tenn did that for me. And I’d cry afterwards. Sometimes for days.”

“That’s...”

“Eventually I got over it. I didn’t want Tenn to be the only one carrying that weight. So I started killing people. When I have to do it, I just kind of turn off the part of me that hates it. I turn everything off except why that person needs to die and how I’m going to do it. And then with you, I just couldn’t turn that stuff off.”

“Erin, I...” Orion couldn’t articulate the anger that was bubbling up in him.

“It’s okay if you’re afraid of me. I’m used to that. We don’t have to play this game. Just let me protect you.”

Orion rolled onto his knees and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “That’s not it at all!”

Erin turned to him. His eyes were wide, completely shocked and lost. 

Orion sighed and lowered his voice. “I mean, I’m a little afraid. Who wouldn’t be? But that’s not why I’m so...”. He realized that he was starting to get loud again, but couldn’t help it. “Why I’m so angry!”

“Angry?”

“That guy you call your master found two starving, helpless kids and took them in, right? And in return for that, he made you fight and kill? He raised you like an animal to be an emotionless killer for his own personal gain, and it’s not all right!”

He was panting. He knew he had to be red in the face. 

“But that’s... that’s the only family I’ve ever known. It’s more that what I deserved.”

“Guh!” Orion snorted and forced himself to calm down. “I understand one thing about your brother. When he saw you living out in the world and assumed you’d found a new family free of all that, he couldn’t bear to drag you back into it. Because he loved you.”

“That wasn’t his call to make,” Erin spat out. “He should have let me know he was alive! Things would have been so different. He could have come with me. I only wanted to be with him! I did this all for him!”

“Maybe he can’t live like you,” Orion said. “I don’t know. I don’t know him, I only know you. And you’re not some kind of monster.”

Erin gripped the sheets until his knuckles were white. “You don’t know me at all.”

“Erin, you said that I’m good. You said that you believe in me. You saved me.”

“Yeah.”

“So let me save you. If you hate killing, let me make a world where you never kill again.”

“Don’t be an idiot. I’m a killer.”

“Didn’t you say your clan goes after an enemies’ relatives, because that’s a better punishment than death?”

“That’s the idea, yeah.”

“Don’t kill my father.”

Erin reeled at that. He didn’t respond.

Orion pushed on. “Help me find evidence of his murders, and let’s put him away for life. Let him watch me take over his empire and turn it into a business that helps people, that doesn’t use them up and throw them away. Let’s prove him wrong.”

He took Erin’s hands. “Come on, lift your head. Let’s make a brighter future, together. With my resources and your skills, we could do it.” He laughed. “He’d hate that.”

Erin looked up at him. His eyes had that wide, confused look again.

“You’re good, Erin. I believe in you.”

Erin’s eyes held on him, glossier by the second as tears welled up. Orion waited, holding his breath for some kind of response.

Erin grabbed his shoulders. His eyes closed. Orion felt his lips against his mouth.

Warm and forceful, he kissed him as if he was desperate for something. Orion closed his eyes and let it happen, even if it was for just a moment.

As abruptly as he’d kissed him, Erin pulled away. He held a hand over his mouth, shocked by his own actions. “I-I’m sorry, that was— I don’t know what came over me, I just felt so many things all at once, I—“

“Uh, it’s okay. That happens. It’s been a stressful day, I think this kind of thing happens under stress, right?”

“Right, stress does that.”

“I don’t need that from you. I’m sorry if all that sounded romantic. I just get carried away.”

“But you’re the one I didn’t ask for permission.”

“It’s okay, I mean. I didn’t hate it. But this shouldn’t get physical, right? That would be dumb.” He rubbed the back of his head, and tried to physically will himself to stop blushing. 

“Yeah definitely not, all these weird emotions can’t be trusted, it would be really...”. They looked up again at the same time to see if the other was looking, and caught each other’s eyes again. “But Just so you know, I didn’t hate it either.”

“Yeah, okay.”

His body was antsy, practically on fire from wanting more. He wanted to grab Erin and stuff his mouth with his tongue whether it was reckless or not.

“But, if you want to...” Erin’s eyes looked so hazy and blown all of the sudden. Orion wondered if his body was doing this annoying thing, too. “It could help. A strong physical sensation helps when you’re suffering from shock, that’s what I heard.”

“I think I heard that once, yeah.”

“And it doesn’t have to mean anything. It can be part of our pretend game.”

Orion leaned in and pressed his forehead to Erin’s. When he spoke, his voice was raspy with how much he wanted him. “Please, let it be real. I need it to be real.”

Erin kissed him again. This time, he pushed him back into the bed. He didn’t care if it was just a product of his shock, the adrenaline that had spiked too many times today. 

He didn’t care if it was just Erin needing something, because things like hope and love confused him. He didn’t care if Erin just needed this out of his system, and it was never to happen again.

When he dug his hands into Erin’s hair and kissed his neck, it felt real. When Erin ripped the clothes from his body and wrapped his legs around him, that was real.

As long as the night lasted, the dream was real.


	11. An Assassin’s Tears

By the time Orion woke It was past nine according to the clock by the bed. Its big red digital numbers reminded him of what kind of place he was in. 

He smoothed his arm across the blankets next to him and couldn’t find Erin nestled in the sheets. His heart sank. Part of him wouldn’t be surprised if he were gone for good. But when he sat up, Erin was at a table in the corner working at something under a rickety old lamp.

“Lighting in this room sucks,” he grumbled, wiggling the end of the light to try to get more of it onto his project.

He had several guns. Taken apart. He was cleaning them and putting them back together along with their ammunition. 

Orion only knew the barebones of how guns worked. He’d shot them a few times. Erin was loading the clip, or magazine, or whatever that part was called. 

“Do you ever sleep?” Orion wanted to grab him and crawl back into bed, but he supposed their situation didn’t allow for extra morning cuddling. That was a shame.

He crossed the room in his shorts and planted a kiss on the side of Erin’s head. He barely looked up, too absorbed in his work. It was kind of cute. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Costs like eighteen dollars for a bowl of cereal here.”

“That’s fine.”

Erin set down a tools he was holding and turned, giving him his full attention. “In that case, I want eggs benedict.”

Orion smudged a smear of grit Erin had gotten on his cheek away with his thumb. “Anything you want.”

*** 

What Erin wanted was to go back to bed and have Orion’s body to himself all day. It was really distracting.

He scarfed down his eggs and continued working. 

“So, I think i might have half a plan. I don’t like it, but I’ve got one.”

“A plan you don’t like is better than no plan,” Orion said in his deep, level voice. Erin remembered how it had sounded calling his name and lost his focus. A shell casing fell onto the floor. He cursed.

Orion was eating his eggs with a practiced grace which was totally uncalled for in this situation, and in nothing but his boxers. Distracting. 

“My master kept some kind of log on all his clients,” he said. “He kept it hidden offsite. Blackmail, you know.”

“It would have a record if everyone my father had killed?”

“Yeah. And a lot of other people. Only problem is, I have no idea where it is. But, guess who might.”

“I’m not really in the mood for games, Erin.”

He really wanted to tease him about last night when he said things like that, but what he was about to say wasn’t sexy at all. “My brother. He was always closer to our master, he was trusted with things that I wasn’t.”

Orion groaned. “Oh yeah, lets just ask him nicely to help.”

“I thought maybe we could ask him, but not nicely.”

The groaning continued, and Erin didn’t blame him. “What about that bug you put on me?”

“What about it?”

“When did you plant it?”

“During that awkward hug you gave me in your office.”

Orion blushed at that, trying to hide it behind a grumpy frown. “Then you must have recorded the conversation.”

“Two things wrong with that,” Erin said. “Unfortunately, I planted that bug on you with the goal of finding you if you got out of my sight, not recording. I always do record the feed just in case—but its main function is tracking. The audio isn’t good enough to prove that voice is your father’s beyond a doubt. Especially when I’m not exactly a reliable source. Even if it was taken as evidence, his language was vague enough that his high powered lawyers could get him out of it, I’ll bet.”

“But with a second source to confirm it, might be a little more solid.”

“That’s true, but we’d need the log either way.”

A smile spread across Orion’s face. “Not sure how I feel about my boyfriend planting a tracker on me. Seems a little possessive.”

Erin grinned. “Aw, I’m your boyfriend now?”

“You’re my something, at least.”

“Boo, I want to be your boyfriend!”

“Really?” He chuckled to himself. “Fine, then.” He sat at the edge of the bed and patted the space beside him. “Think you could have this conversation closer to me?”

Erin smirked and disregarded his instructions. He sat down on his lap instead, pushing between his legs and draping his arms around his neck.

Orion was beautiful in the morning. His hair was a tousled mess, partly Erin’s fault, all the rough handling of last night. He had cute little creases under his eyes. The sleepy look suited him. 

Erin thought, maybe he would be able to concentrate better if he got this out of his system.

***

Last night had been intense, desperate fucking brought on by the adrenaline and shock, both of them with tears in their eyes clawing at each other in near darkness. Eventually they crashed and fell asleep in a pile of tangled arms and legs from exhaustion.

This morning led to the lazy, sweet kind of love making where both of them knew they could take their time. Late checkout. Touching and kissing with no goal in mind. Orion was permitted to hold Erin and run his hands through his hair. The little happy mumbles Erin made as Orion pet him were worth pausing for.

“Your tropical escape plan is more tempting now than ever,” Orion said. He could imagine them in a beautiful resort by a sparkling ocean. Rather than this place and its facade of luxury.

Erin smiled at him. When he smiled like that, there was no teasing or sarcasm in it. But it didn’t last. A moment later, his expression darkened like a cloud had covered the sun.

“I can’t stay with you. You know that, don’t you?”

Orion sighed. “Yeah.”

“The police probably think you’ve been kidnapped at best, and at worst they’re looking for your body.”

“I don’t think I can go back and clear this up, or my father will just have me abducted again.”

“Even if you could, I can’t go anywhere with you.” The police would have a description of Erin, and some information from the flower shop by now. Orion would have to be careful himself, or he’d be found guilty of obstruction.

He cupped his hands around Erin’s pretty face and kissed his forehead. “Then this moment may end up being the fondest memory of my life. Let’s not ruin it thinking of how it will end.”

Erin buried his face into Orion’s chest to hide a sob that racked his shoulders. “I want to stay here.”

Orion wrapped his arms around him and held him. “I know.” 

***

Erin had allowed himself that one big cry, then no more.

He was good at compartmentalizing his emotions, and now it was time to do that. Not to justify murder, but to protect Orion.

They checked out of the hotel, and got back into the old car. Even though he was certain that no cameras had caught the switch, he was nervous that this car’s plates might be hot after everything.

There was definitely a time limit.

He busied himself with prepping Orion for their stupid plan, so he didn’t have to think about their little love nest getting farther away in the rear view window.

“You don’t fight Sardinia,” he said. “If I get taken out, you run, got it?”

Orion’s affirmative grunt wasn’t very convincing.

“I mean it! You’re my priority here.”

“That’s not fair,” he sighed. “Even if I say I’ll follow your instructions, if I see someone hurt you, I can’t promise what I’ll do.”

Erin beat his head against the steering wheel. “This is such a bad plan.”

“You have a few hours to come up with a better one.”

Erin couldn’t.

***

As they drove, he hammered out the plan.

“My attempts at throwing off the police may have put even Sardinia too far behind us to catch up.”

“You were thorough, I’d say.”

“So the question is, how do we bait Sardinia without alerting the police so fast that they get in the way?”

“I hope you’re just thinking out loud, because I have no idea.”

It had gotten dark and Erin wasn’t even sure where he was driving, just that they needed to put some distance between their stops. He considered changing cars again. Money wasn’t a problem.

“Where’s a place he’d be likely to look?” Orion asked. 

“I don’t know.” He spent the next few minutes thinking about that. He wondered if he even knew his brother any more.

_I hope I’ll see you on our birthday._

When Tenn said that, Erin had taken it as a threat, a tactic to intimidate him. But what if it was more of an invitation?

He took an exit. They needed to go west.

“Got a better idea now?” Orion said it with a chuckle, amused.

“It’s a long shot,” he sighed. “But maybe Tenn wants to meet up back at home.”

“Is your family’s house still standing?”

“No, it burned to the ground. But the lot is unused, it’s out in the forest.”

“A remote cabin vacation.”

“Not as glamorous as a tropical island, but it’s not bad, right?”

He huffed a laugh. “Tell me how to get there. I’ll drive. You need your rest if there’s a chance we might run into him again.”

Erin wasn’t sure if that was the best idea. He didn’t doubt Orion’s ability to drive, and his situational awareness was better than most. Still, he wasn’t trained to notice the things Erin did.

“Erin,” he pressed. “Talk.”

“I just don’t know,” Erin said. “I doubt I can sleep anyway.”

“That’s all right. At least sit in the passenger seat and rest.”

“Okay. Okay, I’ll do that.”

He pulled over to the side of the road. They were in a country highway now, no street lamps, in the middle of the dark. No one was going to see them, or catch their plate number.

They switched seats, but before taking off again, Orion pulled him closer and kissed him across the center console. He still tasted like the burger and milkshake he’d had for dinner.

Erin almost cried again. Almost.


End file.
